Pilot training and experience
I'm not a pilot, so I may be talking out of my rear end. But something struck me while reading through the thread about the AT 330 that was brought down safely in the Azores.
I think it was Guvnor who mentioned the the pilot's "bush" experience on DC6, implying that this would have helped him in this emergency, and questioning whether pilots that had been brought up on just the Airbus (or similar) would have had enough expertise to do the same job.
It strikes me that no amount of experience with "stick and rudder" on a DC6 is going to prepare you adequately for handling an A330 that's dead in the air. In fact, it may even work to your disadvantage because the handling characteristics would be so different. What I would have thought would be most significant is excellent and continuing training on type, even if that exact scenario isn't covered in the sims.
That's not to say that overall flying experience doesn't help - especially in the are of keeping cool and level-headed and making informed and sensible decisions in a crisis.
I'd be interested to know what other pilots think.