It is said; “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it”
In 2004, many of today's new airline pilots would still have been at school. They probably would not have known about the horrific crash in that year, of Egyptian Flash Airlines Flight 604, a Boeing 737, that went out of control after getting into an unusual attitude in IMC soon after take off.
It is worth reading what happened and how, with the right training, that type of accident can be avoided in the future. New airline pilots especially, need to be aware of past accidents and learn from them. In this particular accident, it is clear that automation dependency leading to disorientation and the captain's apparent inability to competently hand fly on instruments, were major factors leading to the accident.
Added to that combination, was the cultural aspect of the first officer's reluctance, or lack of flying ability, to take over control when it became clear the captain had lost the plot and was incapable of recovering from the ensuing unusual attitude.
Although this was an overseas accident, it is all too easy for today's pilots to be complacent, knowing that airlines in Australia have an exemplary flight safety record; primarily due to good training
Unusual attitude training in a simulator is regarded by some as just another regulatory box ticking exercise. It is not helped when simulator instructors and check pilots are reluctant to take a control seat and demonstrate the various unusual attitudes and their correct method of recovery. A good demonstration by a competent simulator instructor is worth a thousand words but unfortunately it doesn't happen very often. The pilot is left to read all about it in the flight crew training manual and hope to replicate the manoeuvre in the simulator.
Read the following links to see what happened to the Flashair 737. Start with the first link which depicts the youtube.com animation. After viewing all three links, new pilots will perhaps then understand the importance of effective unusual attitude training in the simulator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCLD6bwGq1I
Flash Airlines Accident - 3 Jan 2004
CVR Database