Kegworth air disaster - Example of 'How can passengers help in the cockpit in an in-flight aviational crisis?'

Question

I accept the rarity of such events, but still, does this event counter or negate the negative feedback aimed at How can passengers help in the cockpit in an aviational emergency? I'd also be interested to understand the subsequent acclaim, Can a passenger realistically replace suddenly incapacitated pilots?, which seems a similar question.

I transcribe some selected, but NOT all, apt quotes from Air Crash Investigation: M1 Plane Crash (S14E01) which depicts the Kegworth air disaster:

35:00, Narrator:
There was another opportunity for the crew to identify their mistake: passengers, who sensed the error.

35.08, Actor who portrayed Captain Hunt, pilot: [CAVEAT: I don't know if this announcement matched the real one, but I would guess so since the Cockpit Voice Recorder was found.]
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem with the right engine. We've shut it down and ...

35:17, Passenger Nigel Baldwin:
There's a problem with the left-hand side. Can you not see that? And you're [the captain] saying it's the right-hand side. ...[Unintelligible; I can't discern what Nigel Baldwin is vocalising here]... Don't interfere. They know what they're doing.

36:20: Guy Hirst, Aviation Consultant [the identity of whom is recorded on screen at 4:13]:
I think for the traveling public, if you see something odd, on the wings or whatever when you're sitting as a passenger, mention it to somebody and that passenger will now get to the pilot.

Answer 1

[...] does this event counter or negate the negative feedback aimed at How can passengers help in the cockpit in an in-flight aviational crisis?

I'm not sure that the feedback was unusually negative according to the standards of this site (and StackExchange in general). The general issue with questions like this is that it's always possible to invent multiple plausible scenarios where a passenger's help can save the day (and some are mentioned in the comments) but in reality it's highly unlikely to make a difference. If a serious emergency is in progress, the pilots will have no interest in unsolicited information or input from the passengers, either because there's no time to get it, or because it may simply confuse the situation (even if the information later turns out to be accurate).

So considering that serious emergencies are extremely rare in general, and a case where passenger help would actually be useful is even rarer, the question is very hypothetical and I don't think that one well-documented incident changes that. That's not to say that it's completely impossible - Dennis Fitch on United 232 comes to mind, for example - but it's just so unlikely and there are so many possible scenarios that it's very hard to give a good, definite answer.

I'd also be interested to understand the subsequent acclaim, Can a passenger realistically replace suddenly incapacitated pilots?, which seems a similar question.

I agree that this question is similar, but it's also a very specific one: it addresses one individual situation and that makes it much easier to give a good, clear, useful answer. You'll notice that the multiple answers give detailed information, references and links, all of which is possible because the scenario is so well-defined. As one answer noted, even Mythbusters tested it.

But to be honest, I also suspect that the second question generated much more interest because as Peter Kämpf astutely observed:

I guess this is a secret dream of many of you here

The fact is, pilots just like thinking and talking about being the hero who takes over and saves the day :-)