Perhaps, Lonewolf, the PF did not comprehend what he was seeing. He probably never saw things on that flight deck that night, before in his entire career.
This possibility, together with sensory overload, preoccupation with weather, ignoring of various "bells and whistles", the so called startle effect, his losing focus on the task at hand (fly the damn plane), little communication with the PNF, piss-poor CRM (including the Captain), total lack of situational awareness and a host of other issues and is it any wonder he was pulling back the entire time? To this non aviator it would seem the guy was scared !!!!less and had no idea what the hell was going on around him.
When the !!!! hits the fan, as I learned several moons ago, it's fight or flight. He went the latter path. He didn't choose it though. It overwhelmed him.
Last edited by rgbrock1; 19th July 2012 at 19:23.