Just a couple of ideas-----
I have a few thousand hours in the MD-88, line check pilot for a famous southern US airline. We had a procedure where we used circuit breakers as switches. Airplane on ground for more than 3 hours or overnight we pulled "red collared" CBs. Other breakers were "yellow collared" to be pulled in non-normal situations.
Stay with me here:
Out loud say the word "SHOP:
OK, spell it out loud: S- H- O- P
OK, Out loud
What do you do when you come to a red light??
Most answer STOP!!!
You have just been programmed----
Now
We had a crew take off from a famous downtown Washington, DC airport in a 737-800 and on the first callout after gear up, called for flaps 1, VNAV.
Guess where the flaps were?
Two times, the crew responded properly to the checklist challenge
FLAPS ---- 5,5 and a green light
Crew was "programmed" for the response and the previous crew had accidentally pulled the yellow collared CB for the take off warning system. it was early morning and the offending CB was not noticed.
In almost 29,000 hours of flying, there is not much I haven't seen. When any routine is interrupted, mistakes creep in. Most of the time we are simply lucky and catch our mistakes before they catch us.
Again at the previous airline, we had a procedure that required a complete before start checklist any time maintainance had been performed on the aircraft.
Also, the importance of "flows" can't be minimized.
Our flows in the MD-88 were extensive-but the 88 was a very hands-on busy cockpit. With a proper flow, if one thing is in place, then everything is in place.
End result--I'm hoping the crew is found faultless and some bizarre mechanical failure is to blame