[emp_zealoth]

I heard it was the Airbus weirdness of steering setup that noticeably added to the problems (Separate, disjointed joysticks) One pilot pulled up as hard as he could while the other one thought he was pushing down, making the confusion this much worse

[AceyMan]

That's true, but was well known (and trained on), so I'd categorize that domain as "How the machine responds when you're hands are on the controls," which is nearly a synonym for "stick and rudder skills" category I cited.

Sure, to nearly every pilot that behavior is wacky, but it shouldn't have been a surprise for more than an instant to pilots who were "operating as designed."

It seems there's no free lunch: when skills atrophy as a natural response to helpful automation it requires advancement in some other skills, should the goal of an ever improving error (accident) rate be achieved.