SOPs & Training
Thanks for that Justme; informative as ever. However whilst I accept many of your points re the accident & you are probably about right as to the main reasons, it still leaves us with the question why well trained experienced pilots made such an elementary mistake? Yes we know pilots do but there is usually one of the other well known factors involved, stress, time pressure, distraction, fatigue or whatever; you are saying none of these applied.
One things I would query is this line, "If they have a license to fly a MD-82 I'm sure they have been trained on how to do it right." We all know it isn't as simple as that. If the atmosphere - safety culture - in which you work is not robust & non standard methods are accepted then it builds a basis for cutting corners. I have worked in airlines where the paperwork was legal but it was a box ticking culture and good solid training was minimal in order to keep the show on the road & costs under control. We all had licences to fly our types but always felt under trained. You are clear that was not the case here & I must accept that as I know nada de nada about the company. However there's world of difference between good training, adequate training & just legal requirements, so I remain curious why such well qualified experienced pilots did - or did not - what they did, there are always reasons in the background & they are ones we really need to understand.