Originally Posted by atakacs
[...] optional aditional and basic help to recover from emergency situations (stop the plane NOW, get to level flight NOW, Go Around NOW) could save the day...
Such automatic buttons are useful, but will not automatically save you. You have to know which ones to press, and in which order. Otherwise they might
get you in trouble.
Case in point:
For "go to level flight" and "go around" these are already in place.
The V/S-FPA pushbutton can have a "Push to Level Off", or "PTLO" function, which selects AP Vertical Mode "V/S" (vertical speed) with a target speed of 0m/s.
"Go Around NOW!" is enabled by advancing the thrust levers all the way forward to TOGA. During approach this not only gives maximum thrust, but also performs an automatic go-around. (Setting AP Modes SRS and GA TRK).
Not using this fully automatic go-around procedure probably contributed to the Sochi accident just over a year ago, where an Armavia A320 crahsed into the Black Sea after the pilots lost spatial orientation.
Incidentally they did use the other "magic button", "PTLO" and then selected OPEN CLIMB towards a too-high altitude target, which, in this combination, caused the autopilot to command a steep pitch-up and climb with unexpectedly high vertical acceleration.
This in turn, combined with a low-energy warning (SPEED, SPEED, SPEED) a short while later, and
then, after selecting TOGA thrust in response to it, activation of SRS and GA TRK modes, may have caused the flight crew to think the AP was behaving erratically and to disconnect it.
Continuing unco-ordinated stick-inputs of both pilots, disregarding FD command bars and other instruments (radio altimeter), and breakdown of crew resource management finally led to loss of spatial orientation and a CFIT, despite an EGPWS warning.
So, even if you have some "Get-me-out-of-trouble"-buttons, you still need to use the right one.
BEA just released the English translation of the Russion accident report a few days ago.