Re: Hey software, get the fuck out of the way!
You are missing a critical point.
There were three pilots (one was the original captain who had been recalled from his rest period when the trouble started). Two of the pilots realized what was going on. And one of those pilots did realize what was happening and made the correct (forward) movement with his joystick to lower the nose. But the other pilot's stick was actually controlling. The Airbus controls are fully fly by wire and give no feedback, including no indication that the pilots are making conflicting inputs. The only way to tell there is a conflict is to actually look over at what the other pilot is doing and everyone was too distracted by the aural warnings and odd data coming from the displays. This was the last link in the chain that doomed the flight.
Here's the last words from the CVR:
02:13:40 (Bonin) “But I’ve had the stick back the whole time!”
02:13:42 (Dubois) “No, no, no… Don’t climb… no, no.”
02:13:43 (Robert) “Descend… Give me the controls… Give me the controls!”
Biting the hand that feeds IT
