jc, I agree with you, a good slap to the face of the PF could have saved the day. That being said, I see two GLARING mistakes; 1) Pushing back from the gate knowing the severity of the weather insteading of delaying departure for improvement of known severity of WX. 2) After making mistake #1, going to the back to take a nap with the IRO in the left seat with known severe wx to be dealt with. That pretty much sealed their fate. FWIW, I am not a Airbus driver, I have been in the Boeing products all of my career (727, 757, and 747) so my knowledge of Airbus is zip. However, on the Boeings, we are always trained, that when things are going bad and only getting worse: **** can ALL automation and FLY THE AIRPLANE. It is the first line on all Emergency Checklists.
