More and more I keep on thinking this crew had been probably well prepared and rehearsed for take-offs and landings but cruising had been always left to the automatic system. As time went by and comfortable routines became the norm, they unknowingly became less proficient high altitude PILOTS. It didn't take much for life to prove them deadly wrong. All three of them in their minds avoided looking and addressing the fast decrease of Altitude because they were simply blank about what to do about it. They never thought that one day they might have to fly manually the airplane without the help of the FBW during the cruising phase. Alternate law or even Direct Law, impossible. Those situations could never happen because is simply too extreme and it would mean that we'll all be dead by then. But the remotely impossible and improbable extreme came to be and the tragic outcome did happened as anticipated. That final outcome could have had a different and happier ending but good old human complacency was already hard at work and too deeply rooted .
Last edited by VGCM66; 5th Sep 2011 at 07:32.