[The_Reader_David]

Interesting, but as most shoulder-fired AA missiles are heat-seekers and would take out an engine, how relevant is throttles-only control for anti-terrorist defense?

Sure on a 4-engine plane (like a 747) it would still be
useful--if practiced with pairs of engines, but on a two engine plane wouldn't it be infeasible once one engine is out?

[wastedyears]

Nevermind a McDonnell-Douglass which some aircraft have a third engine at the tail assembly. The horror...

[Blueflag]

You don't just lose an engine. You might also lose the function of one to several control surfaces due to fragmentation of the warhead and accompanying catastrophic failure of engine components and supports. You also have to deal with differential thrust.

Essentially, this is about training pilots to handle yet another emergency.

With just throttles you can make an airplane climb, dive and turn -- particularly multi-engine aircraft.

[El Gato]

Sure on a 4-engine plane (like a 747) it would still be useful--if practiced with pairs of engines, but on a two engine plane wouldn't it be infeasible once one engine is out?

Yep, and the vast majority of the aircraft in airline service are twins. 757,767, various Airbus, ERJs and CRJs, as well as twin turbo props.

747 of course has 4 engines and there are still more than a few MD-11/DC-10s out their with 3. However in the latter case, the center engine isn't much use in steering, so if you lose one of the wing mounted engines, you're in the same boat as a twin.