The guy that ran the Airbus into the trees was demonstrating the auto pilot wave off. I think the Airbus is set up to waveoff by just pulling back on the yoke. That feature is disabled a some low altitude over the ground so you can flare before touchdown. In the airbus crash the pilot had entered the flare regime and I don't think he ever touched the power transducers (throttles), he kept pulling back on the yoke until impact.
On a Boeing product if you want to wave off on auto pilot you start with the Take Off/Go Around button on the throttles. This brings the power up first and makes inputs to the flight director system, as well.