Dozy
Just because the PF was also a glider pilot does not mean he did make the mental transition from aerodynamic knowledge of gliders into his big metal as you take to assume. Same as you don't make that same transmission from a standard car into a truck.
I do not believe that someone can make such an intellectual shift from one thing to another under stress so easily, especially when the environment and 'feel' of the location is so completely different to one another.