guys, take some time and go to this link CD List Of Contents
read the company submission dated dec 7 on what happened, they slam the pilots like there is no tomorrow and discuss all the things you are discussing on this board. Next, go to the alpa sumbmission also dated dec 7. At the end of the day it is still pilot error but they do a good job of explaining many human factors that related to the crash and lack of consistency and flight standards due to the fact that the company threw this airplane on line with out a complete manual. They have several quotes by check airmen that contridict each other on speeds and profiles which further demonstrates the fact that we have no standards for this airplane.
I knew Marvin, he failed checkrides in the past. At the end of the day, on the night of the crash he had over 3000 hrs, an atp, two type ratings and was qualified to operate the flight. Rebecca had over 2000 hrs, a clean record, had been a cfi and the feedback from her instructors and peers was all positive.
At the end of the day, none of us are bullet proof and we can all make a mistake. Any of you ever have a TP in the sim. Its a good thing it happended in the sim because if it would have happened in the real world you would be on CNN. Does that make you a terrible pilot? No, it makes you a human being tasked with flying an airplane.