I have no quest to damn the dead but how would you feel if a loved one was in the back of that aircraft and because they couldn't fly without automation, killed them?
Quite.
It's interesting to observe the changing attitudes towards pilot performance over the last three or four decades. Originally, superhuman skills were attributed to most aviators, so incidents/accidents were obviously primarily the fault of the crew, rather than systemic in the aircraft or operation. Then followed the CRM era with the realisation that pilots did have limits and that aircraft and procedures surrounding them were not always helpful in terms of a safe operation.
Now we're at the stage where there is an excuse for everything if you go back far enough. Very touchy-feely and nice for us (pilots) but there must be a professional bottom-line of competence, below which you have to start taking personal responsibility. Not knowing basic performance attitudes and recall/memory items from checklists falls below that line, IMHO, purely from a point of self-preservation...