It was the autothrottle he disconnected, but it has the same effect - the automatics had no control over thrust; it was all in the hands of the pilot.
Just to be clear here, there is a subtle difference. If the pilot chooses to disconnect the autothrust by use of the instinctive button on the thrust lever (to manually control the thrust) then Alpha Floor IS still available provided the aircraft is not below 100' RA. At Habshiem, the aircraft was below 100' RA so Alpha Floor would not have activated......
If however the autothrust has been
deactivated by the pilot (hold instinctive button for >15 seconds) or is u/s, then Alpha Floor is
not available. If the pilot has deactivated it, it will only be available again once the aircraft has completed an air-ground cycle i.e. It's lost for the remainder of the flight.
Alpha Floor is an
autothrust protection not a FBW protection.
Despite it's detractors the Airbus/FBW/Alpha Floor system can get you out of a whole heap of trouble..... But it is imperative that you understand what it's doing, why it's doing it, it's limitations and how to recover back to normal flight.
Know your steed!