Originally Posted by
sonicbum
Sorry but, in my opinion, this is total nonsense. The root cause of this specific accident was mainly a lack of understanding of AFDS modes and selections from the PF associated to an incorrect GS from above capture procedure and marginal adherence to company SOPs, very poor PM duties from the instructor and poor assertiveness from the 3rd pilot. PIC time on the A320 is completely irrelevant. When a trainee undergoes a new type rating he/she must work hard to clear his mind of whatever procedure he was doing on the previous type and put maximum effort in system knowledge and operations of the new type, with the advantage like in this specific instance that the trainee is within the same operator so he/she can only focus on the technical aspect of the training.
The instructor on the other hand must be extra vigilant and add to his normal PM duties the instructional inputs. This requires ability and capability to be done to very high standards simultaneously and takes time to develop for every single instructor keeping in mind that PM duties and, more than ever, Capt responsibilities will always have the priority over everything else, in other words You don't end up upside down because You are trying to let the trainee understand.
It's an odd bit of reasoning to conclude from "must work hard to [avoid X]" where X is a factor that could contribute to an accident in a new type, that X is "completely irrelevant." If it's so irrelevant, then what's the bother working hard over it?