Originally Posted by
Timelord
Actually, as I understand the SI the aircraft began the recovery on its own, so the arrival of the co pilot is neither here nor there. Not, by the way, to decry his efforts in any way since he didn't know that at the time.
I think you misunderstand the basic aircraft fundamentals. In all cases if you demand pitch-down then the aircraft will go down and continue to do so - it is after all what you are commanding it to do. It would be a worrisome design if the aircraft could level-off despite a constant demand to do otherwise.
As already noted I think you may be confusing the protection systems that attempt to avert a flightpath/speed limit exceedence. When these activate they only attempt to influence the flightpath/speed to an extent that would keep the aircraft within the prescribed limits - in this case the aircraft would still be going down like a brick, with the throttles neatly parked at flight idle.