Well. I've been thinking a lot about the AFR 447 crash, in the past, and just right now...

First idea that comes to my mind is that this accident could haven't happened to an old B747-200 or DC10-300... Why?

It's quite simple. Old 747's and DC10's didn't have in them the technology embedded nowadays on Airbus types or latest generation Boeing ones. No automatic protection of anything at all. You, PF, just fly the plane according to the manual. If you are on AP and A/THR (they had it), like most of the time, you just watched she doesn't deviate from the altitude/track/heading expected.

You didn't have to take care of systems, as in the cockpit was an extremely important member of the flight crew: the Flight Engineer. He/she watched permanently the engines parameters and the hydraulic/pneumatic ones. He/she assisted the Captain with the fuel management in the flight too

And then became, with the new airliners, the possibility of just only a Flight Crew of two. The tasks of the flight engineer could be taken by the automation of the systems... What an error, IMHO! There were rivers of ink at that time, some defending the new possibility (the industry, of course: less employees and a clear saving in wages) and the regulatory bodies, who didn't do their homework... Flight Engineers  should have never disappear in the Long Haul planes and routes...

Another issue is, like expressed long time ago worldwide, that present pilots with a CPL or even an ATPL lack almost completely the concept of what airmanship is. The feelings in the body of what the plane, be an ultralight or a massive longhauler, is telling us is almost forgotten. Pilots are became nowadays aircraft managers, which is really terrible...

Have a nice night. I love you all

TWRman