Woodvale, PJ2 and all the many posters (especially including the non-pilot experts on Satcoms etc) who have enlightened us all, thank you!
Woodvale, I sincerely hope that every young pilot who thinks he's untouchable reads your post but somehow I doubt it. So it's up to those of us who have survived to still fly, to ensure they're made fully aware of the dangers of not keeping their handling skills up to scratch and of the limitations of weather radar at high altitudes especially in tropical areas.
Now which airline in the middle east has forbidden their pilots to handfly the a/c?