The differing misinterpretations of the Captain's "Pull down" command explains the subsequent actions of both.
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Under stress foreign language skills can go out the window and English was the mother tongue of neither
When I first moved to Denmark (from the UK), I was confused by the signs on doors.
One read TRYK and the other TRAEK.
How confusing!
Then I realised how confusing PUSH and PULL might be to someone not brought up on English.