Any aircraft that does not lift it's nose when the pilots pulls, that does not deliver thrust when the pilot slams the throttles IS a screw up.
Or was doing what it's makers intended and preventing the pilot from stalling the aircraft. Any jet aircraft at <100ft, thrust levers at idle, the airspeed low and decaying with an obstacle ahead is going to be in trouble. A conventional aircraft would almost certainly have been stalled as the pilot pulled back on the stick, as it was the aircraft mushed into the trees still flying, with the wings level and a relatively low rate of descent which is maybe why there was not a far greater loss of life.