That makes sense with my experience. I joined in progress as RIO after being connected before the pilot connected, and had no issues. I crashed, joined in progress again and was locked out of the controls and noticed that the RWR wasn't working either, though that may have been due to damage while I was gone.
The plane damage state was also reverted prior to the repair I witnessed, and I could also access the pilots weapon selector and was able to fire the cannon, though it seemed entirely client-side.