The cause of this incident was the crew's incompetence in not checking or understanding their FMAs.
The FMA is the pilot's interface with the flight systems and must be anticipated, understood and acted upon.
It doesn't matter if manipulation mistakes are made, they can be picked up in the FMA.
I think it is true to say that with the exception of AA587 every Airbus that has crashed has been fully airworthy before impact. They all crashed because the pilots did not understand what the FMA was telling them.
The same might well be true of other manufacturers, and the Boeing 757 in particular.