I wasn't referring to what he could see, I was referring to what he was told (and what he wasn't, namely that the aircraft had been nose up and climbing for over 30s prior to his arrival).
When problem-solving, the first thing you do is gather information from those already present and focus on those issues. This is because in most cases it's quicker to get a summary from them rather than try to work it out from scratch yourself.
That's the biggest mistake you can make when you are the responsible...
Take advices of others is one thing .. rely on those and do not make your own job is another thing !
You can not explain (justify) a mistake on your part by an error of your subordinates
At the end .. it's you the responsible .. and you are paid for this !
In any case this is how it worked in my profession
BTW .. the informations gathered by the captain were:
We don't know .. we don't understand .. we have try all .. we don't control anymore the plane
That's very useful information !
So the focus of the captain (make your job) was to take the controls from those two lost people
Instead he stay seated between the two ... and as a viewer it looked this bad movie unfolding before him