I have a book, initially published in 1967 an on page 319 (Third edition, April 1990), there is this rather interesting paragraph which reads:
Finally, a word about basic flying training, instrument flying and recovery from unusual attitudes on limited panel. A number of airlines are now buying small executive jet type aircraft as trainers for their major transport fleets. In these, some attempt is made to make the instrument panel layout resemble the transport aircraft. This is probably the most significant step forward in training programmes for years. It provides a small, comparatively cheap aeroplane on which pilots can practice and exercise their flying skills.
This was written 46 years ago. It appears that exactly the same problem of lack of flying ability in wide-bodied pilots existed then as it does now. But nowadays we should have an advantage by using high fidelity, purpose built training simulators to do this training. But we don't. In 20 years of small aircraft operations (50-100 seater) I've only ever had one dedicated session to recovery from upsets and loss of control scenarios. Over the years I've obviously used odd bits of sim. time to mess about (touch and go on every runway, fastest circuit, low passes etc.), like every other pilot - but I really don't think that's enough. And I say that when I probably do 10 landings per week, many of which are both visual and hand-flown. We should all do more. Failing to do so results in accidents like this.