Interesting. You'd think the pilot would have looked out after the collision and noticed some damage.

I'm reminded of the three-engine commercial airliner over the Midwest which lost it's rear engine and all hydraulics. There was triple redundancy on the essential systems, with the lines running along side one another so the engine blowing out took all of 'em.

The three pilots, one was a passenger, landed it using just the throttle controls for the two wing engines. Just amazing.

I'm sure I've heard that despite over 100 simulations, no one was able to duplicate that.

And, I suspect my prejudice toward computers with human backup is just a reflection on me. I was never real comfortable with trickier landings, myself. They graded OK, I just wasn't all that comfortable. More practice would have helped. More familiarity with any particular airplane would have been nice. And a lot of folks were more comfortable, and better, much faster.

Arf