Apologies if this is re-hashing old ground, but AF447 was the subject of "Air Disasters" last week on the Smithsonian channel (I think it's what's known as "Mayday" elsewhere).
At any rate, assuming the presentation was reasonably accurate, it noted that the head pilot, after returning to the cockpit, was initially confused about what was going on, but eventually figured it out and started telling the Pilot Flight to push the nose down. Which raises the question: Did the PF ignore him, was it already too late (not enough altitude to recover), or was the aircraft in such a deep stall that it couldn't recover (or at least not recover without exceptional pilot skill)?
Not trying to start another argument, just trying to understand.
