unless it is human nature to fasten the teeth lock them there fixedly no matter what
You've nailed it
Fantome. On another thread about Erebus, some poster (I won't divulge who, but you may be able to guess from his postings here) was berating another poster about their lack of knowledge, particularly with respect to Polar operations, and hoped that the person wasn't a pilot, or if was, hopefully retired. Those of us in the know fell about laughing, because the individual getting the heat, at the time, sat in seat 0A of a jet flying in and out of Antarctic airfields.
By exhibiting good airmanship in spite of crap airline management
No they weren't, because most were busting SOP. What saved them was the good weather they encountered.