Loss of Control In-Flight
You are correct; Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) accidents are the leading cause of death and loss of airframes worldwide. The trend has not been improving. The very day AF 447 was lost, a conference opened in London under the auspices of the Royal Aeronautical Society, targeted at providing industry with long-term solutions in reducing LOC-I through enhanced Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT).
ICATEE was formed (International Committee for Aviation training in the Extended Envelope) to provide these solutions. The work is just being completed, but the solutions involve long-term enhancements to pilot training, beginning at the initial licensing level and continuing through initial type and recurrent operator training. They involve emphasis on basic aerodynamic academics, practical "on-aircraft" training in an aerobatic capable aircraft (with a qualified UPRT instructor) at the commercial (or MPL) licensing level, followed with type specific UPRT training in Full Flight Simulators, delivered with enhanced all-envelope aero models and enhanced feedback tools to pilots and instructors.
What we "learned" in our intensive review of LOC-I accident literature, as well as a review of the existing capabilities of current training infrastructure, is there has been a lot of negative training in industry. Examples; practical test standards that emphasize "minimum loss of altitude" for stall training, lack of academic understanding of aerodynamics (by pilots AND instructors), incomplete aero models in FFS, and in-appropriate use of FFS for upset training (AA 587), and lack of realistic training environments for typical LOC-I events.
The solutions are forthcoming. ICATEE has a website, but these deliverables will be disseminated through ICAO as well as the FAA. There will be briefings about LOC-I/UPRT/ICATEE at many up-coming industry events such as WATS, EATS, ALPA Air Safety Week, etc. We hope to reverse the sad trend of losing perfectly good aircraft, passengers and crew due LOC-I.