Pontius: Thanks for your reply.
THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
My personal interest in that incident stems from my own experience many, many moons ago when I worked for one of the companies that became BA. Your loyalty to BA is understandable however that company has always had a tendency to change/rewrite perfectly good manufacturer's manuals into their own version. I was very nearly caught out by just such a situation involving an emergency gear extension which did not work as per the BA drill and indeed the poor -400 crew were let down in a similar manner.
I do however draw the line at your assertion that the flight was perfectly safe when in the end the crew felt that they had to declare an emergency!!
Going back to the original thread - the various manufactures go to great lengths to produce operating procedures that work and do not require "exceptional pilot skill" therefore there should be no need to debate the merits or otherwise of different flap settings. I am fully aware that some individuals will always know better however.............