One of the two pilots was very young and inexperienced. However, the mistakes are believed to have been made by the older, experienced pilot, who wasn't properly trained and never should have been flying. But because there was no cockpit voice or data recorder, it is presumed it was the more experienced pilot who was making the landing.
The airline, Aviation Charter, had already paid a huge settlement to the families when the final report was issued, because by then it was known that the pilots weren't adequately trained, and the plane wasn't adequately equipped with things like the recorders and an airspeed alarm system.

As to how Coleman won. First, Mondale was the only Democratic candidate the family wanted, and the DFL was in total disarray in the wake of his death. Although he is highly respected in Minnesota, he has been out of public life for so long, he didn't have much name recognition with people under, which did make a difference in the vote. Many young people didn't vote at all in that election, or cast their votes for Wellstone as a write in. Add to that the fact that Coleman never stopped campaigning--he just kept appearing distraught in front of the TV cameras every day after Paul died. At that point, a DFL candidate hadn't even been named, and Coleman had agreed with the Wellstone campaign that he wouldn't campaign until after the memorial. That information (about not campaigning until after the memorial) was known by the local press, but none of them ever called him out on it.

The vehemence, hate, and vitriol directed at the Wellstones, their families, and their campaign by the national and local right wing media the morning after the memorial was unprecedented.

Only one voice of reason was heard in the wake of the memorial, and that was the last Republican in Minnesota with a shred of decency, US Rep Jim Ramstad. He said that anyone who expected a "Hubert Humphrey" memorial service (which was a highly formal, somber, Protestant church service) coming in to the arena obviously didn't know anything about Paul Wellstone. The media went into a feeding frenzy because there wasn't anything "senatorial and somber" about the memorial service. The public memorial went against the expectations of most people outside Minnesota, where people didn't know the Wellstones. But there was no surprise or consternation publicly voiced prior to the memorial being announced in basketball arena. It was planned to be a celebration of the lives of all seven people killed, and done in the spirit of an old time political rally, NOT a conventional funeral. The organizers had been crystal clear about that in advance--including making numerous press releases, and holding a press conference in advance of the memorial, giving all the details. The media didn't bat an eye, apparently because they were too busy sharpening their knives for the morning after the memorial.

I watched the entire memorial (how many people can say that?). The only remarks that were inappropriate were Rick Kahn's, who was blinded with grief, and made absolutely no sense as you listened to him. Any caring person watching him speak could only have felt extreme discomfort for him, because his remarks were just bizarre, and everyone who saw him just wanted him to hurry and finish, get off the stage. His remarks weren't just inappropriate in the sense of them being political. His remarks were just bizarre, and didn't make any sense. That the right wing media seized upon Rick Kahn's remarks the way a pack of wolves attacks prey, was so far beyond disgraceful even today words don't come to me to describe what they did to the grieving family, friends, colleagues, and supporters. I'm still stunned by the rapaciousness of it all.

Like I said, Republican Jim Ramstad was the only voice of reason after the memorial, and of course he was brushed aside in favor of the Limbaugh and Hannity response which created a FIRESTORM. Not just a few remarks about the sadness of Rick Kahn's speech. Not a couple of digs at the way the memorial was planned to be a progressive populist rally, which would have been fine--expected from conservative types who can't conceive of anyone have a public memorial rally rather than a state funeral for a senator. But for the Minnesotans in attendance, the memorial service hit the perfect note, with the exception of Rick Kahn who was just painful to watch.

Jim Ramstad, when asked about Rick Kahn's speech said something along the lines of it was painfully obvious that Rick was simply overcome with grief, and never should have spoken, and that everyone should just shut up, and let the loved ones grieve. He said he was absolutely ashamed of his fellow Republicans' and Governor Ventura's responses (Ventura and his wife walked out of the memorial very publicly, and denounced the whole thing as political).

No one remembers that Paul Wellstone's eldest son, who spoke after Rick Kahn, apologized for Rick's remarks and said if he had known that was what Rick would do he never would have let it happen. As it turned out, in the chaos following the deaths, no one vetted Kahn's speech. He had been totally secluded since the crash, and wasn't even in the loop planning the memorial because he was so distraught. He was one of Paul's closest friends.

People in Minnesota, outside the political circles, really loved Wellstone. They loved that he was a progressive populist in the old school DFL/Debs vein, and proud of who he was and what he did. He was renowned throughout the state for his fighting for the little guy, who would go up against any power, corporate or government, and he would do it to win for the little guy. No senator in recent memory had taken constituent services as seriously as Paul Wellstone did--without being the least bit cynical or opportunistic about it, as most politicians are. They perform constituent services because they have to do it to get re-elected. For Paul, it was one of his favorite aspects of the job. He loved campaigning, because he got to spend so much time with his constituents.

Sure the Republicans hated him. And we saw what the Republican party, both locally and nationally, has become in the wake of the Wellstone memorial. The poison from the right wing has taken over what was once a moderate, fairly progressive Republican party in Minnesota. The old guard Republicans, like Jim Ramstand and Dave Durenberger, Republicans who one could disagree with politically, but still know that they were truly decent men of integrity, are nowhere to be seen in Minnesota politics nowadays. It is all the sharks, wolves, and attack dogs now. Just like at the national level.

And it was sending those sharks, wolves, and attack dogs that won the election for both Norm Coleman, and our current Republican governor Tim Pawlenty, two men cut from the same mold of greedy opportunism.

The pendulum won't swing away from those sorts of despicable men soon enough for my liking.