. Many people could not believe AF or Colgan, but more often the simpler view is more relevant. Humans can be maxed out and in those circumstances they do what some view in hind-sight as 'unbelievable', but at the time, momentarily, was perfectly reasonable for the pilots flying the aircraft.
AF and Colgan, Yes you are right, unbelivable. Perfectly good airplanes being flown into the ground, or water.
Not being Monday morning quarterback or kicking dead colleagues, got lots of empathy because in many cases, I have been there, done that but survived.
Could tell stories all day about the flying I have done in old and tired airplanes over 37 years in the third world countries with bad maintenance, etc, etc.
This is not about me however, maybe I was lucky, or had a strong fear of dying, or both.
When I see people flying perfectly good airplanes into the ground however, and people on the Internet cooking up excuses about confusing situations or it could have happened to all of us, I tend to disagree and get sad, most of these are so damn unnecessary and you don't have to be Chuck Yeager to look across the panel and see if "his side is good" or with Colgan, add power and push forward on the yoke.
Guess my life is pretty simple.