A B777 captain noted a potential confusion for upgrading B767 captains because his B777 fleet's auto...

Narrative:

This problem refers to the our air carrier fleet; as I do not know about others (but suspect it is the same). The B-767 autothrottle arm switch is a square button under the glareshield on the captain's side with a green bar light for 'engaged.' it is SOP on takeoff roll to push the engage button if the first officer calls out that the autothrottles have failed to go to 'toga' during T/O roll... No problem. The exact same position on the B-777 has a similar appearing switch which engages the autopilot. If; as has happened more than once; a former B-767 captain is advised during T/O roll that toga has not engaged; he may revert to old habits and push the button getting the expected green light. All is well until he tries to rotate as the a/P is trying to hold 'level.' resulting high speed heavy weight aborts (plane seemingly won't fly) at well over V1 have all been successful thus far (greater than balanced field length); but it is only a matter of time. Previous efforts to call attention to this have failed. Suggest quick fix of plastic clear (flip up) cover over a/P switch. It works. There is never a need to rapidly engage the a/P. Not elegant; I know - preventing accidents rarely is.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B777 Captain noted a potential confusion for upgrading B767 Captains because his B777 fleet's autopilot engage switch is near where his B767 fleet's TOGA button is located and so pilots could engage the autopilot for takeoff instead of setting TOGA power.

Narrative: This problem refers to the our air carrier fleet; as I do not know about others (but suspect it is the same). The B-767 Autothrottle arm switch is a square button under the glareshield on the Captain's side with a green bar light for 'engaged.' It is SOP on takeoff roll to push the engage button if the First Officer calls out that the autothrottles have failed to go to 'TOGA' during T/O roll... no problem. The exact same position on the B-777 has a similar appearing switch which engages the Autopilot. If; as has happened more than once; a former B-767 Captain is advised during T/O roll that TOGA has not engaged; he may revert to old habits and push the button getting the expected green light. All is well until he tries to rotate as the A/P is trying to hold 'level.' Resulting high speed heavy weight aborts (plane seemingly won't fly) at well over V1 have all been successful thus far (greater than balanced field length); but it is only a matter of time. Previous efforts to call attention to this have failed. Suggest quick fix of plastic clear (flip up) cover over A/P switch. It works. There is never a need to rapidly engage the A/P. Not elegant; I know - preventing accidents rarely is.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	974996
Time
Date	201110
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B777 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Autothrottle/Speed Control
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 220 Flight Crew Total 22000 Flight Crew Type 3000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

A B777 captain noted a potential confusion for upgrading B767 captains because his B777 fleet's autopilot engage switch is near where his B767 fleet's toga button is located and so pilots could engage the autopilot for takeoff instead of setting toga power.