[p911dad]

Yep, heavy stall training and actual spin entry was in the training regime years ago(that's how old I am). Once you do that deal, you definitely remember how to recover from a stall. The way I was trained was point the nose up, then add power to make it an accelerated stall(even more violent reaction) then the instructor kicks the rudder pedal right or left. The immediate outcome was stall horn bleating, all hell breaks loose and the nose up becomes instantly wing over and pointing about 60 degrees down and rotating quickly around a point on the ground! You are now facing down to the ground and accelerating toward the earth like a brick in a free fall, with no forward airspeed. What next? Cut the power, relax backpressure on the stick and recover from the dive(quickly, but not too quickly or you will break the tail off!). It is easy to lose 2000' in a few seconds. This is why a stall near the ground (like during landing) is normally fatal in all instances.
The fact that the airplane had a stick shaker pushing the nose over in this story and the pilot fought against it. leading to the crash, is simply astounding to me. How could he have had that reaction? He was 5 miles out and at least 4000' above the ground, so he had plenty of room to recover from the stall!
I was a flight instructor for many years and we continued to teach this manuever(accelerated stall to a half turn spin) well after the FAA said we didn't need to (too many students were killed learning it, along with engine out manuevers on light twins), but we always figured if you started the maneuver high enough(say 5000' above ground level) you could always recover. Believe me, our students knew what to do in a spin or stall entry!! Power off, neutralize rudder (or a little opposite rudder, depending on the aircraft type)! Nose over!! Recover!! We even did this with the hood on, simulating instrument conditions. We only did half spins because some aircraft like to spin and will resist recovery, as in a "flat spin" Once the rotation starts, a certain inertia can set up in some aircraft and make recovery impossible.
How could Colgan have turned this crew loose without this experience? To Buffalo??
I spent my entire flying career in the northeast US and Canada and there is normally icing in the winter. No big deal, just training and knowledge and how to react to the situation.