It was pilot error. An amateur pilot in the same situation would not have crashed the plane, as it was a really basic error. I don't mean to say the pilots were

It was pilot error. An amateur pilot in the same situation would not have crashed the plane, as it was a really basic error. I don't mean to say the pilots were bad - just that with flying, as with all skills, being very advanced can make you quite bad at some of the basics. The instruments actually could not have done much better, without any external reference points there are some situations that are indistinguishable from air speed, pressure, and g-forces alone. Sadly, the stall profile they were in was one such situation.