80% of pilots will instinctively pull up when sufficiently alarmed
I don't doubt that for a moment.
However, in the absence of anything else going the pilot's way in extremis ... configuration, attitude and thrust is a good place to start when nothing much makes sense - unload the fear and then there is a chance for rational thought to occur. It follows that such data MUST be a memory item .. there is no time to pull out the QRH when the aircraft is at risk of toppling.
In my insular view, training and more training in the basics is the best way to cause a quasi-automatic but reasonable response to fright to occur.
That this may not have happy results in some cases is part of the cost of doing business .. we are concerned with maximising the overall probability of a successful outcome.
Sioux City was an exemplar for how to approach a lost cause, I suggest. A lot of the folks were killed but the miracle that any survived remains ..
Whether the beancounters acknowledge it or not .. when all the aces have disappeared, only the flightcrew remains to sort it out.
Certainly would echo those comments which look to new discussion rather than a rehash of what is contained in the archived megathread on this mishap.