A fly-by-wire system for a rotorcraft includes a computing device having control laws. The control laws are operable to engage a level-and-climb command in response to a switch of a pilot control assembly being selected. The level-and-climb command establishes a roll-neutral (“wings level”) attitude with the rotorcraft increasing altitude. The switch may be disposed on a collective control of the pilot control assembly (e.g., a button on a grip of the collective control). Selection of the switch may correspond to a button depress. The level-and-climb command may include a roll command and a collective pitch command. One or more control laws may be further operable to increase or decrease forward airspeed in response to pilot engagement of the level-and-climb command. The level-and-climb command may correspond to a go-around maneuver, an abort maneuver, or an extreme-attitude-recovery maneuver to be performed by the rotorcraft.