Re:Shit DOES happen...and HAS happened. (Score 3, Informative)

Complex system interactivity and tight coupling have caused accidents in many industries and in the transport sector.

Charles Perrow has an excellent analysis of those type of accidents in Nuclear Plants, Petrochemical industries, Aircraft & Airways, Dams etc.

(Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies, by Charles Perrow, Basic Books, NY, 1984.) http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~piccard/entropy/perrow. html

Most of these accidents and failures were not the result of lack of money or due to operator error. In this case, I doubt it was a simple as forgetting to push a button on a control panel. This is not an excuse, but a reasonable explanation for a whole range of accidents involving complex systems.