Maz11,
Ive not spoken to the pilot in question but I have spoken to one of the next best people. The pilot was not waiting or thinking about alpha floor engagement. It was a manual low level pass and he simply did not apply TOGA soon enough.
He thought that the Alpha-floor would kick in, effectively doing the go-around for him.
This incident, despite popular belief, has nothing to do with Airbus flight control laws.
Slightly off topic, but that crash was testament to Airbus and how solidly they built their planes. All on board survived bar one. That person was a wheelchair 'charlie' and could not get off before the smoke sadly became the overriding factor.