Obviously it depends on the situation, say you lose your generator fields/generators for whatever reason and desperately need to close a field breaker (IMC with the battery depleted, for instance) you could hold the gen field breaker closed and restore essential power at least and potentially all 3 AC busses (example is 727 specific).
As far as the landing gear is concerned I'm not sure how long the cycle to release uplocks would be on the 767 with the ALT system, and I'm not even sure that a CB was an issue here. Just pointing out an option that is available if the situation calls for it.
Theoretically, let's say the weather was not clear and calm like on the day of this incident (and diverting to another field with good conditions was not an option). Holding the CB would be taboo on a good day to some, but on a bad day one might want to seriously consider holding that CB in long enough to extend the gear. And, again, not sure that a CB was at issue here.
Last edited by aviatorhi; 6th Nov 2011 at 01:16.