Mod,
You removed my previous and admitedly rather snide, post but this thread is degenerating into a urinating contest between Pilots and Engineers that does our industry no credit whatsoever and certainly is not relevant to the tragic accident this thread purports to have as a subject.
I must say, I also find it very unprofessional that so many posters are happy to bash another country's processes and people - "Well it's alright to bash them, they're French" seems a very low-brow attitude for a group of people whose role in life is aviation - to build links between nations. Just about every juristiction in the world has processes that seem very odd to other juristictions but professional people accept that, respect that and do their job.
BTW, Airbus is not French - if you don't believe me, say it's French in Broughton or Hamburg or even in parts of Spain and see what reaction you get! But I guess we won't let that get in the way of a good bashing session!
Can I plead for a return to the thread subject and an end to the bashing.
We need Pilots and we need Engineers and we need both from all the nations of the world - full stop.
Saman