Interesting discussion indeed. As a contractor flight simulator instructor for many years I see some quite scary moments while training pilots on the 737 simulator. Low altitude go-arounds on instruments in particular. Automation addicted pilots seem to have the most trouble because of their lack of manually flown no flight director basic raw data instrument flying skills.
One exercise in particular is a reproduction of the Turkish Airlines 737 crash at Amsterdam where the autothrottles closed to idle prematurely while on a coupled ILS approach. Google the accident if more details are required.
For the simulator exercise the autothrottles are set to idle at 1500 feet on final and as the autopilot attempts to maintain the ILS glide slope, eventually the stick shaker actuates. By then the stabiliser trim has wound a long way back under the influence of the autopilot. A go-around is initiated with the IAS in the region of VREF minus 20 knots.
The thrust levers are manually positioned to max thrust for the go-around and the ensuing severe pitch up is further exacerbated by the aft position of the stabiliser trim. The pilot can only contain the pitch up that occurs by forward control column and holding constant forward stabiliser trim for approximately six seconds which permits fairing of the stabiliser and elevator thus allowing normal elevator control to keep the pitch attitude within reasonable limits.
Flown in IMC it takes very careful handling to keep out of the stall regime and on the other hand to prevent a dangerously high nose attitude. A common factor seen is failure by the pilot to stop forward trimming of the stabiliser and this causes the initial pitch up to turn into a dive. In other words the high workload in the few seconds of the go-around results in the pilot forgetting to release the stabiliser thumb switch.
Another factor often noticed is the pilot forgetting to double click the autopilot disconnect button on the control column. In the stress of the go-around he may disconnect the autopilot with one click of the AP disconnect button but then there is the continuous noise of the wailer which is distracting and only adds to the perceived urgency of the situation. Low altitude manually flown go-arounds in IMC without use of the autothrottles and without use of the flight director need to be practiced regularly during simulator training in order to keep instrument flying skills up to scratch. Automatic pilot go-arounds then become a doddle.