Basics, basics, basics......
Basic flying skills would obviously have saved the day but how often are commercial pilots applying these basic skills on a day to day basis. Restrictions on when A/P can be taken out, A/T must be used at all times, ILS must be flown if available, blame culture.......to name but a few reasons why you see folks put the A/P in at 200' and take it out again at 500'. Unless you fly for fun in your spare time your skills are being eroded.
I agree this scenario should not cause any problem whatsoever, but the fact is it did and has brought many things to light. Friends on the Boeing have suggested that they could well have been caught out and I applaud them for their honesty, it is too convenient to just say there were a couple of numpties up front that day and it will never happen again. I know some colleagues have now changed the way they brief missed approaches and include balked landings as a way to mitigate against the same mistake happening again (or at least run through it quietly).
If they had pressed the TOGA switch in the flare we would not be having this discussion but the fact is it happened after touch down. How many of us have thrown away landings after touch down? I know I haven't, the closest I got was around 5' to 10' on one occasion on a short runway in Greece. On this occasion it appears TOGA did not perform as PF expected. Should he have advanced the thrust levers?.........of course, was he in a habit of not doing so?..........who knows.......was there deficiency in training in Emirates?.......I don't know. I would be interested to know if many other Boeing pilots out there started to wonder whether they were physically advancing thrust levers or just pressing TOGA.
As an industry we were lucky that there were not many more deaths that day and hopefully those of us that needed an attitude adjustment towards basic skills and automation have learnt a valuable lesson. Those of you who are perfect.....move on nothing to see here.
Safe flying