carefully orchestrated yet near-instantaneous sequence of hormonal changes and physiological responses
Concours
There is a triggering sequence for activation of fight or flight, but as your own reference indicates, it is near instantaneous, at least within the body's own internal measurement of time. Once triggered by visual, audio, or by physical impact, activation of the fight or flight response moves at nerve impulse velocity to prepare the body for action.
The BEA in their final recommendations noted the effect of "Startlement" as the cause of the accident. If you substitute triggering the fight or flight response for "startlement" you come pretty close to my own assessment of fight or flight response triggering and leading to panic when the roll became unstable.
Originally Posted by BEA FINAL REPORT AF447-CONCLUSIONS
The startle effect played a major role in the destabilisation of the flight path and
in the two pilots understanding the situation. Initial and recurrent training as
delivered today do not promote and test the capacity to react to the unexpected.
Indeed the exercises are repetitive, well known to crews and do not enable skills in
resource management to be tested outside of this context. All of the effort invested
in anticipation and predetermination of procedural responses does not exclude the
possibility of situations with a “fundamental surprise“ for which the current system
does not generate the indispensable capacity to react.
The rapid increase in crew workload in an unusual and unexpected situation led to the
degradation of the quality of communication and coordination between the pilots.