Another reason these copilots were non-contributing could have been that they were oblivious to the dangers their captains were ignoring. The copilots may have lacked the basic airmanship skills and experience to even detect the problems. They could have been so inexperienced that they didn't know what they didn't know. The critical need to take over the controls of an airplane from an incapacitated or unconscious captain has been recognized for years. The techniques for taking over the controls from a dangerously dysfunctional but conscious captain never have been well defined or universally accepted.
PACE provides a hierarchy of intervention strategies for both situations.
PACE starts with very general inquiries and progresses to a final statement that the first officer is now assuming command and control of the aircraft. The Need for a Precise Operational Terminology Subordinate flight crewmembers will use the PACE hierarchy of inquiry and intervention strategies to successfully cope with the extremely rare but potentially lethal performance breakdown of the captain. First officers trained and rehearsed in the intervention progression will initiate PACE whenever there is an indication of upper level performance breakdown in airline cockpits. Creative ad-libbing on the flight deck will not be productive in life threatening situations. The copilot needs a message equivalent to that used by the military fighter pilot.