BPalmer
The airplane is essentially point-and-go. If you pull back on the stick for a few seconds and let go, the airplane pitch will stay there.
This statement is esentially misleading and not completely correct. Correct would be the airplane will maintain a loadfactor of 1g. Correct would be if you add ....... if the autothrottle takes care of the speed. What's the difference some might ask.
Otherwise without the autothrottle (that droppped out at AF447 right at the beginning) the aircraft will decelerate in a climb or accelerate in a descent, and the computers would increase the pitch ( if in a climb) or decrease the pitch (if in a descent) to maintain the one g flightpath.
That mindset "set the pitch and it will stay there (and go there) might have influenced Bonins actions with the SS.