Originally Posted by
dera
the whole premise of aviation certification standards are, that planes should not have failure modes that require skills that only the top 1% of pilots have.
It's easy to sit here and say how you would just "fly the airplane" and "control the airspeed" etc, when you're not in the hot seat as multiple conflicting messages and warnings are presented to you at the same time, with insufficient training to understand the system logic that might cause all of them.
Yes, it is easy, but some accident crews make it easier than others, especially when the apparent deficiency lies in basic flying fundamentals. And yes, appropriate and judicious application of pitch trim is something I would reasonably expect from any pilot with a solo endorsement, let alone a type rating in a transport category aircraft. I certainly remember in primary training how quickly I learned the importance of pitch trim; could not hold altitude or airspeed worth a darn unless I used it, and used it often; it eventually became instinctive. If this is a skill that only the "top 1%" have...then that's a problem.
While everyone is busy piling on Boeing, nobody is asking about the basic training and experience (or lack thereof) that the accident crews had. Here in the states, we get up in arms whenever someone suggests relaxing the 1500 hour/ATP rule. Whereas apparently in Ethiopia, pilots get typed at 100 TT, and that gets a pass.