southernboy
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.
most of us are pretty good at responding to the honking horn and blinking red light and most of us aviators have done the tasks thousands of times without consequence even if we botched the task a bit.
and you can 'swiss cheese' your barriers, train over and over again, create policies and procedures, revise checklists, encourage everyone from the PIC to the plane spotter at the fence to point out errors and... still accidents are going to happen.
sorry to not be typing with capitals as needed by as of right now, I am working with a rebuilt shoulder from a recent bicycle crash which destroyed the shoulder. Now riding a bicycle is a fairly easy task and for someone who has been riding bikes for decades, one could say I was an experienced bicyclist. I have done many 50-75 mile bicycle rides without incident. But then recently I recently turned my head slightly to watch 3 riders go by as I approached the 50 mile point on a 66 mile ride and the next thing I knew I was going over the handlebars after hitting a pot hole large enough to swallow a tank.
One could say I was distracted and the obvious answer is to not be distracted by telling someone to not be distracted is 1) like telling someone they should advise you when they are asleep and 2) it is not realistic.
One could say ride more carefully and have better 'situational awareness'. I didn't see the pothole until I was almost in it. All this to say we make mistakes which are the exception to the rule and sometimes we incur significant consequence up to and including loss of life. or in my case, a new steel plate with eight to 10 screws holding together my reconstructed left shoulder.