Danny,

In about 1990 Airbus did low pass at the Paris airshow and lost the plane.
I recall it had something to do with the throttle software thinking the
pilots were in landing mode and "refused" to go to high power for the
go-around.

Anyone remember the details???

Details? How about we get the general picture right? ;-)

It was not in Paris, it was in Mulhouse. It was in 1988. The official
accident report blamed the pilot for flying too low and too slow, basically a
classic "Hey, watch this!" accident.

If you are into conspiracies, there are other explanations (by the pilot, for
example - hardly surprising), but even they don't mention any "landing mode",
whatever that may be. You may confuse that part with the case of a Japan
Airlines flight, where the crew put the plane in TOGA mode without noticing
and fought the autopilot all the way into a stall.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)