Originally Posted by
jcjeant
This is not about the situation ..
It's about distraction .. focusing .. forgetting all but one thing
That can happen in any situation .. and not only on a aircraft ...
Whilst I agree with what you're saying in principle, the fact that Afriqiyah 771 was deliberately placed under manual control and then mishandled - whereas EAL401's departure from controlled flight was inadvertent, is an important distinction to make.
The PF on 771 may have been distracted in terms of his scan breaking down, but he knew he was in control. The crew of EAL401 were working on the assumption that the autopilot was in control - the PF's mistake there was using the autopilot function display in lieu of an instrument scan while they were troubleshooting the bulb. He didn't know that George (and by extension he) wasn't in control until it was too late.
Distraction or tunnel vision is in all likelihood a factor in both, but the difference in the nature and degree of distraction makes it a dicey comparison in my book.