Hydraulics is so heavily intertwined with human activity that I doubt that any one incident would cloud its reputation, especially since no one died in the process.

Since modern aircraft could not exist without hydraulics, I do not see a significant question here. Hydraulics is a big part of their safety.

As for the Gulf oil spill, BP is the "bad guy".

I don't ever remember hearing about this problem so no need to get all defensive.

Well the hydraulic system may not have stopped the Torch, but it WAS responsible for that big puddle of oil at the base of the tower.

Hydraulics is gonna get a bad rap in any case. The perception is that it's noisy, it smells, leaks are slip hazards, and high pressure leaks can be amputation hazards..

(I was forced to say that - my blood is half MIL-H-5606 by volume, thanks to leaky Chinooks. )

Seriously, though, many systems are moving to electrically actuated servo systems simply because the current (no pun intended) intelligence is that it is easier and safer to push electrons (and rf) around than hydraulic fluid. It doesn't matter that many, if not most, apparent hydraulic failures are due to the underlying electrics and electronics.

Hooker