A couple of points regarding Electra flight controls:
1. Next time you're up training and at a safe height, turn off all hydraulic pumps without de-boosting. The controls are not locked, just extremely difficult to move. You can still manually port hydraulic fluid and move the control surfaces, allbeit with very reduced mechanical advantage. Although the aircraft was not certified to be flown this way, an average pilot, with the help of the trim tabs should still be able to maintain adequate flight path control.
2. Next time you're in the sim perform a takeoff with all hydraulic pumps off, not de-boosted, but ensure the elevators are in the neutral position prior to turning off hydraulics. Appy power, sit back and watch what happens. If the trims are set at takeoff position the aircraft lifts off on its own and flys away into the sunset at a pitch angle of between 5 and 10 degrees, with no pilot input, let alone a flight engineer input!
So, total hydraulic failure close to the ground, no big deal really. If it happened to me, I'd be inclined to control flight path with trim, get well away from the ground (2000-3000 ft) before de-boosting.
The problem comes when you have multiple failures close to the ground, i.e. hydraulic and engine failures. Very unlikely, but it has happened. An Electra was lost in Boston in 1960 when it encountered a multiple bird strike shortly after lift-off. Number one engine autofeathered, 2 others surged and their generators went off frequency (3 generator aircraft). However, not even the flight engineer could save them that day.
Statistically, the Electra is a very safe aircraft with much built-in redundancy and there's nothing to suggest that two-crew has changed that.