Commander Taco,
It was a Pratt JT9D powered B767-200 (not a particularly fine engine BTW.
I hate to tell you, but your operative words in your quote above weren't just hedgy, they just weren't true. I know because a co-worker of mine was on that aircraft and said the silence was eerie. The pilot who operated the switches did so without looking, the memory of his flying 727s and switch positions was etched in his mind. The CF6-80 had the quickest start time compared to the JT9s or RB211s, the RBs being the slowest. The Aircraft was within 300 feet of the ocean when the first CF6-80 started and began to generate enough power to begin a slow climb out. The pilots flew the aircraft on to Cincinnati, never explaining to the frightened passengers what happened.
Excerpt from the July 3,1987 New York Times
The latest Government order called for installing a guard between the two fuel levers to ''inhibit simultaneous activation'' of both devices.
It said that ''normal crew training emphasizes actuating only one engine-control switch at a time,'' adding, however, that the location of the devices on the Boeing 767 made it possible to operate switches for both engines simultaneously.
Planes like the Boeing 767 can readily maintain safe flight with only one engine operating.
The order imposed a 10-day deadline for making the change on all 77 of the Boeing 767's in use in the United States as well as on 30 domestic Boeing 757's using Rolls-Royce engines. The 767 involved in the incident Tuesday was powered by General Electric engines.