In the cruise, however, all that excess power is an embarrasment as the match between engines and airframe cannot be as precisely matched as with four engines.
can you pontificate then why the 340s, 380s and guzzle more fuel during cruise (payload vs. fuelburn) than 330s or 777s?? Silly statement.
As to the news releases:
It may well be that the pitots iced up, the flight computers sensed high speed and the autoflight system wanted to counteract and pitch up and reduce thrust, as it could not cope it disconnected the autopilot and "told" the pilots you have controls.
What I am curious now, is what was the input of the pilots and did the aircraft obey them, or did the duped protections still inhibit a eventual stick down input!
That will be the really interesting point.