clandestino
A decade before his lifespan was abruptly terminated on the slopes of El Deluvio, your unfortunate friend won the accolade of USAF instructor of the year (IIRC he was flying Rhino at the time), which makes him far, far, far above average pilot in anyone's book.
A title does say nothing about flying expierience, as do hours as well.
He started pilot training in 1979, and when he left the airforce 7 years later to become a flight engineer on B727, he had accumulated a total of 1.362 hours.
Clandestino
even the best pilots can underperform occasionally
Tat is a very true statement.
Itīs astonishing how reading thousands of pages on the various AF447 threads could lead to the conclusion, that only this very unfortunate AF447 crew was able to do such mistakes, all others being skygods and unfailable, and therefore thoughts about an improvement of systems, of the machine man interface is not necessary and a waste of time.