Since first hearing about the "leak" in CVR :
"Slats, Flaps OK" at that time
and nowaday : "Slats, Flaps set"
I saw poor phraseology, or poor check list, or poor training ...
It is highly likely that one of the pilots didn't reply "Slats/Flaps OK" in the CVR. But to me, it wouldn't be surprising if he did.
I'm 100% sure, though, that training in Spanair didn't teach them to do it that way.
I also have no trouble (at all) believing that, pilots trained anywhere in the world with TOP CLASS facilities and methods, like I believe the ones employed in Spain are, eventually develop ways to "relax" those procedures or even skip parts of them altogether.
I do believe that in some countries, due to cultural issues having to do with "I know better than everybody else" attitude, some of those "rules" are eventually relaxed more than others AFTER TRAINING.
Without having any knowledge on how far that can go in the piloting community in Spain, considering how people drive around with little regard to rules in a country where it takes on the average 3 months of theoretical training +40 hours of paid professional driving training to obtain a driver's license, again, I wouldn't be surprised if the pilots actually just casually said "flaps/slats ok" without even looking (not saying that it happened, just that it would not surprise me personally if it did).
Shhhsss ... there is people that still refuse to drive with safety belts on or that forget to wear them quite often.
Many here have admited being properly trained but eventually skipping parts of check lists, answering challenges w/o really looking, etc. It's not common, but it happens. Everywhere. Just yesterday, as you know, a pilot with over 30 years of experience in Canada tried to land w/o doing the check list and with the landing gears retracted ... I don't think he was taught to do it that way in Canada or that his checklist procedure was defective. Just that he didn't do it properly or at all.
Training and management I PERSONALLY don't think were part of the Spanair accident at all. Scandinavian Airlines is a serious company that takes those issues seriously. Spanair has not had accidents with victims in its 20 years of heavy operations.
My PERSONAL and UNFOUNDED opinion is that it was probably an error on the side of the less experienced copilot, coupled with somewhat rushed and distracted operation (mostly due to the RAT heater previous issue), and the coincidence of having the config alarm disconnected due also to someone's oversight (i.e. CB tripped) or actual electrical failure not properly detected (i.e. intermitent fault with the front wheels ground sensor). Flights conditions (heat, weight, wind) and plain bad luck (plane deviated to unfavourable terrain/direction), PERHAPS completed the tragedy. To add insult to injury, one of the reversers maintenance, which could've been of use in this case (albeit pbbly not much), had been delayed for 3 days ...