Prior to these accidents pilots were trained to avoid stalls and unusual attitudes rather than learning how to recover from them, not least of which is lack of

Prior to these accidents pilots were trained to avoid stalls and unusual attitudes rather than learning how to recover from them, not least of which is lack of simulator fidelity when outside the flight envelope, which was cited as a factor in the AF 447 accident. While they did know alternate law applied, they didn't know why and the flight computer didn't give them sufficient information to figure this out quickly, and the indications they were getting (speed, attitude, c-chord warning, stall warning) pretty much confused all of them.