Lack of understanding of Automation and how it behaves in a non normal situation is what has caused the recent accidents including the 777 accident in Dubai.
I can't agree with this statement. This is a contributory factor for sure, but the cause goes back further than that.
If you are flying the aircraft as every PF should be - that is monitoring attitude, airspeed, altitude, vertical speed & thrust - and only using the autoflight system as one of a number of aids to assist in that process, there would not be an issue as long as pilots were competent & adequately trained.
The problem is that in recent times pilots have started to abdicate their responsibility to the automatics & have ceased to monitor most, if not all, the basics. And the first two to go are airspeed & thrust. I have seen it many times over the years. Pilots tell the A/T system what they want via the MCP & then just expect the system to react correctly, without confirming and/or backing up to ensure that that is the case.
The bottom line is that it wouldn't matter if they didn't completely understand the automatics, as long as the continued to fly the aircraft at all times & remove or override the automatics manually if required. Of course it would be preferable if pilots did fully understand the automatic systems on the aircraft, but lack of understanding is not where the primary cause of these accidents lies.
It seems to me that some have become uncomfortable with the standard of their basic flying skills & have become reliant on the automatics to cover their shortfalls. The reasons for this are varied, but a number of accidents over the years has highlighted this problem. The Kenyan & Ethiopian B737 accidents come to mind, along with the Asiana B77 accident. Coupled with this, is the fact that two engine go-arounds are perhaps the worse performed exercises in the industry. This is common knowledge in the checking circles I have moved in, in the past.
The go-around procedure that has been used on all the Boeings I have flown, in all the airlines I have worked for, has always been the same.
1. PF calls "Going around - Flap 20 (B777)", hits TOGA & ensures that the thrust levers go forward - way forward, while pitching to the target pitch attitude or ensuring that the A/P is responding correctly
2. PNF selects the flap, verifies & calls "Positive climb(or rate)"
3. PF calls "Gear up - check thrust"
4. PNF selects gear up, checks that go-around thrust is set & calls "Thrust set".
Seems simple, but it gets messed up all the time in the sim & even in the aircraft. In this case it looks like the aircraft has settled back onto the runway with the gear in transit. It will be interesting to read the final report to see if anything was missed & whether or not environmental factors had a role to play in the outcome.