[bongodriver]

I can assure you none of us are trained to pull up, the case in point was not the whole story, the aircraft was caught in severe weather with much windshear, and the pitot probes were blocked, the pilots had alot of confusing information to deal with, ultimately their response was a gamble...

Tomcat is right to suggest newer pilots are loosing many basic skills, here in europe we have pilots flying the heavies who have never flown a 'propper' light aircraft in training, they hold these new and bizarre 'multi-crew' licenses having done all their training in simulators, he is also right in saying the newer guys are doing the job because 'they can', instead of it being a life long ambition it is now just another career path with a nice uniform.