Originally Posted by reelbigchair

Yes the pilots are responsible for the safety of the aircraft, nobody here is saying otherwise. I'm saying, it could've been any one of us. This is a mistake, plain and simple. I believe that you have to go a lot farther to find negligence in this particular accident. These pilots were not "cowboys" living by their own rules. They were operating their aircraft in a safe and responsible manner. They made no choices that significantly increased the likelihood of a crash. They didn't ignore checklists, they didn't fly into terrible weather, they didn't show up drunk. If they had done any of those things, or similar things, then I would buy into the negligence. They made a tragic mistake of turning onto the wrong runway. Nobody in the flight deck (I believe there were 3 of them) noticed. So three fully trained airline pilots, all with significant experience, made a terrible mistake. They, however, were not negligent, which is something I believe SHOULD be necessary for a successful lawsuit against the pilots. Unfortunately in our country, I'm afraid that won't be necessary.