Notwithstanding the errors the crew made, the North American System (and others) removes or reduces the transposition error, that the crew clearly made. Ironically (perhaps) the Non-ICAO use of FL two hundred is trying to reduce the likelihood of another error.
The North American Flight crew, would be used to FL being tens of thousands. Perhaps worth asking what mental steps your own mind actually performs from hearing a FL to selecting it, and how you are or aren't protected from making the same mistake.
Last edited by vh-foobar; 2nd May 2016 at 22:37.
Reason: grammar