What is ridiculous is that in 2018 a covered static vent is able to create such a situation and basically crash a plane.
What is most ridulous is that in 1988 most pilots would have easily handled such situation...
Modern aircraft rely much more on automation of highly integrated systems and profit from the significaltly higher reliability of the modern systems (electronics vs. electromechanical).
At the same time pilot training has changed from basic flying perfection to efficient procedures and system management, well trained to handle any situation the engineers thought of by the best procedure.
If all goes well, safety figures go up a lot. There is no question that aviation is mucher safer today than it has been 30 years ago.
If for any reason something goes wrong, no matter how low the probability, you lose a lot. And not every pilot is able to handle what is left, especially if something he was
not trained for goes wrong,
If this plane was in VMC, there is no reason (except structural failure) why the crew could not continue in a 'rough-and-ready' way and return more or less safely.
Well, actually there are quite some more scenarios than structural failure, smoke in the cockpit or third party action, to name some. But none of them (including the structural failure) look likely today.