2) Having no cockpit dash lights did not help. Now the instructor (thinking John was in the P1 seat) said that the row of switches was by his right knee. Which would make it John's left knee in reality. The cockpit isn't that big that he couldn't get to the switches?
I'm clearly missing something.
It's dark. You cant see much inside the plane. You have no idea what absolutely any of the switches do. And you're not a pilot. Would you go around pressing unknown switches while also dealing with keeping an aircraft straight and level and all the rest? As a pilot, even in a plane unfamiliar to me, from the right hand seat, even in daylight I don't think I'd be pressing too many switches I wasn't totally confident with. OK, we know the red ones are ones not to touch, but if I didn't know what the others did, I might well leave them alone.
I saw the program and say the guy is a hero. Not only for staying calm with a dead pilot next to him, but for maintaining that level of control over an airplane in such conditions.