Originally Posted by
Capn Bloggs
Lookout, UAV Ian has arrived!
I hope you say that tongue-in-cheek. Obviously, with today's high performance engines, having a crew (PF then the PNF) mucking around trying to manually, accurately set a thrust (takeoff, GA or whatever) is silly. Hence a button that will do that (and in Boeings, incorporating at two-step thrust limit for GAs to help prevent gross overshoots, as has happened on Scarebusses). So as far as I can see, there is a useful purpose for TOGA buttons.
The issue here is only that it doesn't work in a Bolter situation. On other jets, it does. If you don't practice bolters regularly, then you're probably going to stuff one up if you have to do one, especially if, as in this case, you have plenty of IAS and things look OK on the ASI and therefore haul it back into the air. So much to do in so little time, with the aeroplane reacting, initially, as you would expect. And because you never handfly, you've lost that seat-of-the-pants sinking feeling when the bottom starts to drop out of it with no thrust on. Throw in a distracting radio call and...
Yes of course it was somewhat tongue in cheek - though it is as you suggest "
If you don't practice bolters regularly, then you're probably going to stuff one up if you have to do one," So the TOGA button is put in and someone says ahh but what happens if.... and they put in a simple WOW switch to stop an embarrassing taxiing incident. But the crew either didn't know about that inhibition and/or failed to check the power. It would have been better if the designers had used weight on nose wheel.