I'm trying to imagine the horror the pilots (and passengers) were feeling. Imagine your car slowly starting to shift sideways into incoming traffic, and no matter how hard you pull the steering wheel, you can't get it back. Horrifying.
Edit: The tape is actually owned by Jewel Palovak who this scene is also with; She's a former girlfriend of Treadwell, not his (or his girlfriends) mother.
Being from the same airline, these pilots often are at least acquainted with the crew they are hearing die. The show said that sometimes after listening it shakes the pilots up enough that they soon retire from flying.
I think you're missing the point. In hindsight it's easy to say "this is what you could/should have done", and some are knowledgeable or lucky enough to either find the solution themselves, or have someone tell them before it's too late.
In two instances this wasn't the case. The pilots weren't able to regain control of the aircraft. And that lack of control, with the full knowledge of impending doom, must be a terrifying feeling.