Originally Posted by
Mesabah
Q-Alpha or similar system is NOT a gee-whiz gizmo. It takes the same philosophical approach to warning the crew in the same fashion as GPWS, TCAS, depressurization, etc. This would have absolutely reduced the element of confusion in this accident. If you think the crash would have still happened, with both pilot knowing the aircraft state, then we agree to disagree.
I think, that had the FO or the airplane warned the captain to check airspeed, this crash would have been prevented. I mean, what do you do as PM when you see the other pilot making a mistake, say nothing because they should know better?
I agree with you. Q-alpha would have made a big difference. Those who are arguing against you in this thread are indicating a lot of hindsight bias. It is easy to see what YOU would have done differently with the benefit of hindsight, and it makes us feel good to think that a particular accident would not have happened to us, but it is almost always wrong. The reason is that such thinking ignores the actual contextual factors occurring at the time. If you cherry pick what you are perceiving or should be perceiving in hindsight it is obvious. In real time there are all sorts of other aspects. Put yourself, as Dr. Sidney Dekker says, "in the tunnel", knowing ONLY what they knew at the time, and having ONLY the training and experience that they had then, plus with any other fatigue, experience, etc.