Pulling the stick all the way back is the <i>normal stall recovery procedure</i> for an Airbus 330. That&#x27;s totally different from standard piloting.  With the flight control system in normal law, the control system protections will keep the angle of attack below a stall, and will increase throttle to get airspeed if necessary.<p>AF447 had ice-clogged pitot tubes, and the pilots lacked reliable altitude and airspeed info. Redundant sensors reported conflicting data.  The flight control system dropped back to &quot;direct mode&quot;, where the control stick (which is a little joystick-like lever) directly moved the control surfaces.  In that mode, pulling back the stick stalls the airplane.<p>Hitting the pilot with a mode change like that in the middle of an emergency was part of what caused the disaster.