:clap:
3000+hours is not inexperienced. This crew may have broken the rules of airmanship 101, but so did a 17,000 hour 747 captain who took off out of Tenerife without clearance. None of us are infallible.
3000 hours is not exactly "high time". As for the PA crew, that was a lot more complex due to the differences in phraseology used. Outside the U.S. it's a different set of rules and clarity is often severely lacking.
Also, go look up that accident again and see just WHO was taking off! From Wiki:
Following the tower's instructions, the KLM aircraft was cleared to backtaxi the full length of runway 30 and make a 180° turn to put the aircraft in takeoff position — a difficult maneuver to perform with a 747 on a runway only 45 m (150 ft) wide. While KLM 4805 was backtaxiing on runway 30, the controller asked the flight crew to report when it was ready to copy the ATC clearance. Because the flight crew was performing the checklist, copying this clearance was postponed until the aircraft was in takeoff position on Runway 30. During taxiing, the weather deteriorated and low-lying clouds now limited the visual range to about 300 m (1,000 ft).
Shortly afterwards Pan Am 1736 was instructed to also backtaxi the same runway, leaving it by taking the third exit on their left and then using the parallel taxiway. Initially the crew was unclear as to whether the controller had told them to take the first or third exit. The crew asked for clarification and the controller responded emphatically by replying: "The third one, sir; one, two, three; third, third one". The crew began the taxi and proceeded to identify the unmarked taxiways using an airport diagram as they slowly reached them. Based on the chronology of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the distances between the taxiways (and the location of the aircraft at the time of the collision), the crew successfully identified the first two taxiways (C-1 and C-2), but their discussion in the cockpit never indicated that they had sighted the third taxiway (C-3), which they had been instructed to use. There were no markings or signs to identify the runway exits. The Pan Am crew appeared to remain unsure of their position on the runway until the collision, which occurred near the intersection with the fourth taxiway (C-4).
The angle of the third taxiway would have required the plane to perform a turn of approximately 145°, which would lead back toward the still-crowded main apron. At the end of C-3 another 145° turn would have to be made to continue taxiing towards the start of the runway. Taxiway C-4 would have required two 35° turns. A study carried out by the Air Line Pilots Association after the accident concluded that making the second 145° turn at the end of taxiway C-3 would have been "a practical impossibility", although the Dutch report stated that such a maneuver "could reasonably be performed". The official report from the Spanish authorities did not explain why the controller had instructed the Pan Am aircraft to use the third taxiway, rather than the easier fourth taxiway.[4]