Of course there were other factors. Pilots don't just up and decide to blast off the wrong runway for no apparent reason. That's the whole point of a mistake, they thought they were doing the right thing and they weren't. Was it avoidable? Maybe, maybe not. For them; that day in that airplane at that airport it appears that it wasn't. The only point is, for those pilots on that day in that airplane at that airport, a mistake occurred that cost 49 people their lives. It sucks for everyone involved and while I wish the FO the best of luck on his recovery, I don't think it's realistic to expect to return to a Part 121 carrier. However, I've been proven wrong in the past.

At the end of the day, there was a variety of factors contributing to this accident. Some of it was the controller. Some of it was the airport. However, you can't really count out the pilot factor here. After all, the controller and the airport weren't sitting at the controls.