One thing to be in a big video game box, another to be up in the air in a soda pop can and realizing suddenly that if you make one incorrect move, you and everyone you're responsible for are going to die. (In this case not everyone did, but in general, plane crashes kill everyone on board.)

I'm a former Marine; I've been in those kinds of situations. Sudden intense stress literally makes people stupid, and some people do not react well.

Unfortunately there's not really a good way to figure out how someone will react ahead of time. (And it's sort of surprising who does well and who doesn't. Some of the people you'd think might lose their shit don't, and some you thought would be good, aren't.)

Anyway, not defending this pilot, because it sounds like he may not have been a good one. But even a perfectly well trained pilot could have a bad reaction to a situation like that.