Originally Posted by
Derfred
The problem was that they didn't look at their PITCH ATTITUDE.
With all due respect, I'm pretty certain they did. What they didn't do was effectively work together as a team to understand what the ADI and altimeter was telling them, and consequently solve the problem/recover.
My personal layman's interpretation is that the PF never really recovered from the initial "startle" response, and subsequently developed an inaccurate mental model of the situation. The PNF seems to have had a much clearer idea about what was happening, but lacked the confidence to emphatically take control and tell the PF to back off until he calmed down*. The Captain arrived too late to see the initiating events (namely the zoom-climb and lateral PIO to stall), and therefore only had half the information he needed to assess the situation. I'm pretty sure that the Captain did eventually work out what had happened, but it took the PF's exclamation that he had been pulling up for some time to make it click - unfortunately by then they were only seconds from impact.
* - Because - management/motivational-speak aside, sometimes a member of the team can get overloaded and the other member[s] need to get them to take time out and clear their head before re-engaging.