... and yet on more than one occasion, pilots have taken off and prematurely retracted the flaps when they meant to retract the gear!

Humans fascinate me sometimes.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/578defbae5274...

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/578def27ed915...

(Two separate incidents in the same year, on the same day, even)

EDIT: Updated links to point to incident reports