Operators capability to handle exceptional situations depends on practiced. When the situation is exceptional, and the operators are under stress, they try the behavior which they have practiced most, namely, that of normal conditions.
The pilots of the AF 447 flight which ended up in an accident on the 1 June 2009 (Wikipedia ) were not used to fly the airplane manually. When manual operation was enforced due to exceptional weather conditions, one of the pilots operated the airplane as in takeoff, which was improper.
Updated on 20 Dec 2016.