I seem to get from your posts there is a problem of immiscible elements: you see it here too, the sometimes gentle (and not so gentle) antagonism between the old school pilots and the new school pilots.. interesting to see that dynamic in a cockpit! So are you saying that AF basically started to breakdown (internal cohesiveness) after the different mergers? i.e. the newly assimilated units just did not merge well or work together?
What are we exactly debating ?? I thought it was AF or even french safety culture and ability to operate complex technology.
Just AF safety culture, but thinking out loud, the specific sense of national identity and cultural pride identified by the Concorde, and later, by Airbus... would that affect the ability to look critically and act proactively regarding any faults?