Flying with the controls split is no big deal, not quite sure why so many are so quick to believe this nonsense. Armchair pilots and PPLs, I suppose. The only way they could have suffered a "total loss of flight controls" would be if somebody had gone down into the avionics bay (accessible from the cockpit) with a large pair of boltcutters, and cut all the control cables.
Zlin246
For your information, no 146/RJ has ever crashed as a result of mechanical failure of any kind. Whatever you think you may have heard from your third cousin twice removed about the 146/RJ, it is probably apocryphal nonsense.
All aircraft have defects. Some more than others. The 146/RJ is remarkably clean in that regard. Being British, it can tolerate a lot of problems before it becomes unflyable.
I'm not British, BTW, but I recognise a bit of quality engineering when I see it...