As I mentioned elsewhere, the captain figured out what was wrong immediately, but he was too late.

BTW, my dad taught instrument flying in the AF. He said it was simple - look at the instruments. Bring the wings level, then the pitch level. Although simple, your body screams at you that it's wrong.

He carried with him a steel pipe, so he could beat a student unconscious who panicked and would not let go of the controls. This was against regulation, but he wasn't going to let a student pilot kill him.

When JFKjr's crash was on the evening news, he said two words - "spacial disorientation". Months later, that was the official cause.