Backpacker - Commercial Commuter company here, some years ago, had 3 aeroplanes, same type, but different vintage. 2 had fuel selectors that went Left - Right - Off, and 1 had a selector that went Left - Off - Right.
All day pilots flew the 2 similar a/c, but at the end of a long day were switched to the dissimilar one. Guess what ?
Coroner said pilots are stupid - or words to that effect - can they not read ?
How often do you drive your wifes' car, and at the first corner start the windscreen wipers ? Are you stupid, can't you read ? How often do you bother to read the label on your own car wiper switch before touching it? You KNOW it's the wiper switch - but one day..... it's a different car.
QED.
Learning to fly the 707, a group of us were asked by the training captain what the first action was in the event of an engine fire ? All the smart-asses came up with their idea of the right answer. All wrong. Do nothing, he said, sit on your hands and THINK.
Many a twin has crashed after an engine failure because the pilot has stopped the perfectly good engine !
The only time to react with alacrity is in a situation described by Pace, a wheels up landing is never pretty ! Well done that man.
A Comet 4 once landed wheels up, very smooth landing, crew only realised ( so the saying goes ) when they needed a lot of power to turn off the runway !!
Murphy is always with us.