of course this is a pilots forum and pilot issues should come first. Please don't lose sight of the fact though that the safety chain is only as strong as the weakest link.
Excluding af447 a number of recent accidents have seen repetitive defects not being properly dealt with which was the first hole becoming aligned in our piece of cheese.
There is enough human behaviour information and knowledge out there now that will support the line that even the most able pilot will make at some point make mistake potentially resulting in disaster because they are human. Therefore even if you improve pilot basic training etc.. (which I fully support) the true safety benefits will only be achieved by filling in all the holes in the cheese.
Within the maintenance world there are many and they are increasing.