What's your definition of "real pilot", bubbers?
If you mean pre-FMS/"magenta line", then as Clandestino has pointed out this has happened before to an old-school crew on a NWA B727.
As far as we can tell from the CVR, the PF never really fully appreciated the situation and at least for some of the time had (wrongly) convinced himself that they were in an overspeed situation. On any other day he may not have made that mistake, but on this occasion he did. This implies that his emotions and instinct overruled his rational thought processes, but it does not mean that he was an incompetent pilot.
You can be considered the premier pilot in your airline and still make mistakes - Tenerife proved that.