Whatever the reasons, I think pilots are losing their basic instrument scanning and flying skills - if they ever had them in the first place. I think three things need to happen:
1. The authorities need to look at the training regime in force when the pilots in control of the crashed aircraft were trained on that type. Had it changed and if so how? I personally think that something vital had probably been removed from the syllabus. It might not be something obvious, it might be something very subtle and seemingly unconnected, but something seems to be missing from some pilot's abilities and skills if their actions - which caused these crashes - are anything to go by. We need to work out what was missing from the training syllabus they did and put it back in - quick.
2. We need to introduce upset recovery practice to every SIM - like my training on piston engined aircraft for my ATPL - we had to close our eyes while the instructor would put the (real aircraft - we were actually flying) into an unusual attitude, for example nose high, turning left. On the command, we had to open eyes, and purely by reference to our instruments, had to take control and smoothly recover, rolling wings level, pitching back to a sensible angle and adjusting throttle to control speed. We should do this today in our jet SIMs. Eyes closed, and an unusual attitude selected with flight freeze on. At the command, open eyes (a split second after flight freeze is removed), and pilot has to recover. This would only add a couple of minutes to the SIM detail but would be very valuable.
3. All pilots, but particularly experienced captains need to be properly tested and their flying skills properly assessed - it is too often assumed that they know what they're doing and that their skills are still sharp. In my company I have witnessed a seasoned captain making a horlicks of something, but I am the one who gets the bollocking because I didn't call out or take control. Once, a senior training captain in the SIM made the wrong calls, wrong actions etc, during an EFATO, but the response from our TRE was 'yes ahem, OK then, right, now onto the next item.....' WTF ???? Had I performed as badly as that I would have been lucky to escape with my licence intact. There is a distinct element of the old boy network going on, where senior pilots rubber stamp each other's efforts in the SIM. The XAAs should run SIM tests, not TREs from the same airline as the pilots being tested.