safetypee says: Pilots also lack experience of the pitch – speed interaction – the ‘feel’ of manoeuvring the aircraft in manual flight.
If that is true the pilot shouldn't have been allowed to fly his first solo flight.
It seems to me that about two thirds of the people posting in this thread are searching for excuses; i.e. what quirk of the aircraft could possibly be to blame.
The other third have it right. Bottom line: These guys can't fly. The pilot flying, at least, proved that he didn't have a understanding of how to fly an airplane at the very basic level. In addition, he proved didn't have an understanding of how the sophisticated auto flight system of his airplane worked.
And none of the guys in the cockpit had an appreciation of the relationship between cultural idiosyncrasies and their basic responsibility to keep from killing their passengers. Shame on them.
If your premise is correct, someone should have told the pilot something most of know, "Pull back and you go up. Pull further back and you go down".