@Bill Lumberg: Bill this blowin smoke article has several flaws to begin with. The first articles put out had them four hours into flight when the center hydraulic system failed. This would put them past the mid point on the Oceanic Tracks. A decision to continue to destination from that point is somewhat understandable, but to continue to destination after only an hour and a half airborne would have been highly risky and a bad decision. I doubt that is when they had the failure. Secondly, the landing gear AND the gear doors are hydraulically controlled, not electrically controlled. The only electric motors involved with the gear doors are during the Alternate Gear Extension System activation. This switch uses an electric motor to trip the locking mechanism for each gear and releases all door and gear uplocks and the landing gear free fall to the down and locked position. Thirdly, the article incorrectly states: “For the main and nose gears to have failed to lower, either or both may have malfunctioned.” Each landing gear truck is mechanically independent so all three would have to fail at the same time. Fourthly the article states: “Rare as total undercarriage failure is, pilots regularly train on simulators to execute this emergency procedure.” This is a false statement as well. We don’t train for belly landings. Fifthly, the article states: “touching down gingerly with the tail skid.” It’s difficult to determine if the tail skid is actually down or not, but since it can only be extended with center hydraulic system pressure, how did it come down? Who knows, that may be a key element. It may have just been residual pressure.