@ 'bird: Sorry, I needed to make it clear that I could have duplicated the crash, as even with max back stick, my jet would only hang at 27 deg AoA and 1 gee. No way to command a higher AoA or gee. Biggest difference was no autothrottle modes and such. Push forward, motor spools up. Pull back, motor spools down. Unlike the GE J-79, both the fans I flew ( A-7D and F-16A) spooled up very slowly, in comparison. At max AoA and low altitude, I had plenty of thrusties left over, so a go around was easy. Aftr reading the India 605 discussion, I got a better understanding of the autothottle, and I see why the Captain under scrutiny here pulled back and then advanced to ensure he was out of the autothrottle system. Too late. He had plenty of excess thrust available, but "pressed" too hard and too long.
Secondly --- No real buffet in the Viper at max AoA. Kinda a low freq buzz. This was due to the leading edge flaps moving all the time, eventually reaching full down above a certain AoA. Provided excellent directional and lateral stability - like full aileron command and 250 - 300 deg/sec roll rate all without departing.
Last answer for the 'bird -- - could always push to a lower gee unless in a deep stall. The lack of pronounced buffet and the loss of the nose down pitch authority we had in a deep stall was the main reason I joined the AF447 crowd. Although the 'bus still has nose down authority when deeply stalled, our contributors here have shown it takes a long time to finally get flying again. Unlike the 'bus, we trimmed for a gee with either a small wheel or the coolie hat. We did not have the 'bus implementation. If I let go of the stick, the sucker tried to get to whatever gee I had it trimmed for. Did this at any attitude.
Didn't mean to repeat what I had posted on AF447, but simply answered the 'bird's question and added an opinion of the Captain's actions/judgement.