I would predict that a pilot would be far more likely to make an instant, snap decision to chop the throttles if something went crazy, due to his/her extensive time actually operating the aeroplane doing all sorts of things which would significantly reduce the startle effect, as well as Sim training which would put them on a far higher/quicker reaction level than any engineer could be.
I would even go as far to say that the engineers are better trained to deal with these situations then the pilots are. (Ducks for cover from flying flight cases!).
What's the Sim program/recurrency for engineer ground-run courses? If there isn't one, IMO it is highly unlikely an engineer could be better than a pilot at handling an incident.
And no, I'm not suggesting engineers are lesser persons than us pilots. Framer has proved that!
