[alwann]

Originally Posted by Challenger

Until the last year or so , no one spoke about "cultural" issues , except pilots.
If you watch the news channels today you will hear it loud and clear,

Generally, some asian trained pilots will not question authority figures ie.
first officer is timid about questioning decisions of the captain. Americans and Brits are trained to challenge authority if they are making an error.
American pilots are trained to make any deviation needed to protect the flight regards of policy or rules . Some Asian pilots won't question Air Traffic Control.

There were some bad decisions made in this case. The final result may not have been avoidable once the decision to fly into the storm was made.

The pilot was responsible in the final analysis for that decision

Well, that certainly could explain the pilot's mental state. The co-pilot was French, however. I imagine he/she put up a strong argument.