these people must be thinking that planes really do fly themselves all the time without problems....heck, it's just a plane up in the sky, for Pete's sake....a "fender bender" is to be expected once in awhile...

ugh, to flying...I have no urge at all due to the growing human problem...stress, drugs, bad sleep, mechanics forgetting to tighten something...we are the weakest link in all this!

From a design standpoint, shouldn't it be impossible to accidentally kill an engine?

There are legitimate times to kill an engine and the throttle can't tell one
from another ... that was supposed to be the pilot's job but it appears that
they preferred to use untrained monkeys instead on that airline ...

(Seriously, how can someone who failed the simulator be allowed
to fly a real plane complete with passengers?)

where you have to throw 2 or more switches to kill an engine while airborne.

The very second a pilot makes a lethal mistake or even 'plays' with the settings (like the last plane crasher did before he actually did it) alarms should go off on plane and ground.

But alarms won't make up for poor training and a breakdown in cockpit discipline. Before any lever, switch or button setting is changed or activated, the pilot not executing the procedure should confirm the correctness of the other pilot's action before any change is made.