PukinDog,
That is the most informative and best explanation I have read so far on this thread. Obviously we won't be able to put this all together until we see the results of the NTSB investigation. However, your suppositions are a very likely factor in this near accident. As I have pointed out several times before, under certain conditions as you have postulated, humans are far more susceptible to illusions than most of us are willing to acknowledge.