I don't hold ATP though I believe it is irrelevant here... Basically they lost situational awareness and got behind the plane: they didn't understand what is go

I don't hold ATP though I believe it is irrelevant here... Basically they lost situational awareness and got behind the plane: they didn't understand what is going on with the plane systems (autopilot) and failed to "fly the plane". While the NTSB report doesn't state this, I would not be surprised to learn that they actually didn't look outside of the window and instead they were head down punching buttons to reprogram the system. I'll speculate that the whole accident became possible due to the lack of VFR flying by Asiana pilots that a typical US pilot gets way before s/he gets into the airliner.