Outlaw,
My point is that any recording doesn't tell us what they actually heard in the flight deck. How readable was it? None of us know. What I do know from personal experience is that ATC quality southbound after Muscat is sketchy at best. Does 466601 ring a bell? I've been on frequency with another aircraft that couldn't hear ATC at all even though it was perfectly clear to me. Does that mean the other pilot lacked SA or basic airmanship? I think not. None of us know what they were able to hear. The recording is of the transmission, not the reception. That's my point. So let's stop pointing fingers like we have any idea what really happened to lead to this series of ultimately non events.