Actually the inexperienced COPILOT did this. The pilot realized that was a problem eventually, but too late. And unfortunately the Airbus takes the average of both pilot inputs.
You can see more here: https://safetyfirst.airbus.com/app/themes/mh_newsdesk/docume...
https://www.bea.aero/docspa/2009/f-cp090601.en/pdf/f-cp09060...
Really? That's the best way to handle that?
The pilots should never both be trying to apply control inputs at once. There isn't really a good way of handling the situation where the pilots are not communicating and are trying to make conflicting control inputs.
It wasn’t until a few minutes before Air France’s crashed that the pilot realized what the copilot was doing.
This is not true. See e.g.
http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=772033&start=...
02:11:43 (Captain) What the hell are you doing? [captain returns to cockpit]
02:13:40 (Bonin) But I've had the stick back the whole time! [At last, Bonin tells the others the crucial fact whose import he has so grievously failed to understand himself.]
02:14:29 - recording stops
Note that at the point of the transcript you're referencing, the captain was in the cockpit but not seated at the controls. It therefore would make no difference to his awareness of the situation whether or not the control sticks were linked, as he wasn't holding either of the sticks.
Unlike the captain, the PNF and PF (who were seated at the controls) both seem to have thought that they needed to climb. See 2 h 13 min 39,7 and 2 h 13 min 40,6.
Unlike the captain, the PNF and PF (who were seated at the controls) both seem to have thought that they needed to climb. See 2 h 13 min 39,7 and 2 h 13 min 40,6.
There's also evidence from the rest of the transcript that the pilots at the controls were perfectly capable of observing (or inferring) which inputs were being made.
I think there's an underling misconception here that an Airbus sidestack has a "position" akin to the position of the yoke of a plane with fully manual controls. An Airbus is flown with the sidestick remaining in its central position 99% of the time. To climb, for example, the pilot makes a short backward movement and then lets the stick return to its neutral position. The flight control software will maintain the specified climb until another stick input is made. For this reason, stick inputs tell you very little. If, for example, you see the PF push the stick forward, that doesn't necessarily mean that the plane's being put into a dive. The PF might just be reducing the rate of climb. You'd have to keep track of the complete history of stick inputs to know what was going on.
On top of that, as only one pilot has their hands on the stick at any given time, for the PNF to visually observe brief movements of their own sidestick would hardly be any easier for them than just looking at the sidestick of the PF, who's right next to them.