I recall when this accident happened, a former commander of the unit ridiculed on a Facebook post the multiple civilian/utility pilots that basically identified exactly what the report has said (yours truly included). The arrogance that “you are all below the great Utah National Guard” when among the level experience that was in the comments there leads me to think that this wasn’t pilot error, it’s an institutional failure of overconfidence and incompetence that bled over into these two crews.
I can’t say that I’ve ever been graced with a position in National Guard aviation, but in my time with some higher echelon active duty aviation organizations in the past, we were always very keen to be humble, open to suggestions and critiques, and willing to admit when we were in over our heads.
Mike