Hi all! I don't understand why everyone seems to ignore that even the conversation between two pilots ever since the start of the event didn't resemble a conversation between pofessional pilots? No call outs, no attempt to analyse the situation professionally, no checklists mentioned, no procedures. How badly were they trained exactly and how average were they? I find it frustrating that so many people seem to be reluctant to accept that what was found so far was more than enough to bring down the plane. Two FOs that couldn't fly complemented by a capitain that couldn't command put in one cockpit and as a result an event of frozen pitot probes that is not terminal by nature developed into a catastrophe. 228 dead. What is so surprising that other factors are needed? That modern planes still require pilots to know how to fly? After all, that's what happened. Pitot froze, obscure UAS procedures - this is on the surface, but if you scratch it, it's the case of A/P disconnect and the pilot's inability to fly the plane - as shocking as it sounds. Add unfamiliarity with plane's features. Multiply by two, add the capitain who failed to take responsibility, command and control when called to interfere (it's academic that it might have been too late by then). 228 dead. And insistance on an aviation forum that modifications to the plane are due to prevent this. I am a lay person, but I understand that a pilot without flying skills and solid knowledge base is a dead man walking, 100% at the mercy of the plane (automation) and his colleagues and a liability in some situations. And this is what happened. No addditional causes are needed.
Why there is insistance that the "plane did something" or that it caused the crew to do what they did? How can anyone take seriously AF's bull**** about "complexity of man-machine interface" after the converstaion in this cockpit was revealed and the latest report published? There is no and shouldn't be any interface in any sophisticated technology equipment that allows unproficiency. What's next then? Kids-friendly nuclear power stations? Interface didn't play any role in the event and for this crew any different interface could be just another thing not to know. To believe otherwise one would have to ignore all that was said and also what wasn't said in this cockpit. We have pilots that demonstrated that they knew and understood their plane - the one they were working on - badly. There is no reason to conclude logically that if plane was designed differently they would have known and understood it any better. They ignores stall alarm for almost a minute without saying a single word about it and then it was stopped by design, it's a pure conjecture to say that if design was different they wouldn't ignore it.
I disagree with recurring theme "something must have been wrong with the plane even if the investigation doesn't say it". In the light of what is published so far I don't understand where this conviction comes from. I saw failures on many levels but they are not technology-related. Does anyone blame technology when using it without reading the manual and breaking it? If you have a piece of equipment but only ever know one button there will be problems. And IMHO any debate about technology in the context of this crash will mean that these failures won't be properly addressed. It is clear that advances in technology no matter how big don't mean that professionals skills can be allowed to deteriorate especially when they are meant to complement and in times to compensate for this technology. Not a rocket science to understand. However I will agree that debate is due on why this is still allowed to happen. And please lets not try to make plane manufacturers responsible for pilots skills. Maybe instead airlines should be made to EARN their share of profits and prevented from attempting to take a free-ride on the back of manufacturers by manning new planes with untrained crews? Free-riding is unfair competition, and because as the result of poor training events like frozen pitot are turned into fatal, this is also a murder.