Mos
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.
Having gone from front to back of this thread there's been very little in the way of finger pointing, and much more in the way of soul searching along the lines of "how could this have happened?"
I don't get your defensiveness, regardless of the circumstances we, yes we bear ultimate responsibility for our crew, our passengers and for 99% of the time our outcomes.
MRU along with half a hundred other 3rd world "destinations" are high threat environments, even on your worst day I'd expect and demand the best from my colleague regarding their SA and anticipation skills. TBH I thought, given the nature of this that it was a training flight or something similar, but it appears that it wasn't.
To summarise my thoughts I'll leave you with this thought, would the crew have been in the same frame of mind going into Lagos or perhaps Addis? for me personally, I'd like to think so, but based on the outcome, I'm far from sure.