Hi Smilin Ed,
In the case of the Halifax 747 (MK airlines) tragedy, I can only say that I knew at least 2 of the crew members personally and they were certainly not robots - more like overworked, tired, but nevertheless trained and highly capable crew with family and other good things to look forward to. We always think we could never make these (often simple) mistakes, but believe me, even the most talented pilots can be caught out. Rather than simply chide others, every good pilot should just use every tragic accident as a lesson to learn and be safer in their own flying - without being judgemental.