Originally Posted by
PashaF
Hm... 5 minutes of struggle is an evidence if you look at it from psychological point of view.
Several minutes are the exact timetable needed to go through emergency checklist and only after that the pilots were free to start thinking on their own.
What would they do? We also know that it was virtually impossible to pinpoint an electronic component as the source of disaster, and moreover, modern pilots are not comfortable with fuse boxes melding.
I assume that they attempted to use manual wheels to adjust the trim, presumably, while applying their combine muscular power.
Can we also assume that electric motor was keep trimming in opposite direction?
If so, this man versus machine struggle could end with only one (not that unusual) scenario. Control cable snapped and machine was left to trim as it wishes.
Why do you assume blindly that you have "five minutes of struggle". Since normal pitch and power settings would generate a climb it's much more likely that the decision to maintain level flight was intentional for reasons unknown until the CVR is recovered. The initial flight profile was almost identical to the flight the previous evening but instead of continuing to climb out it appears that a decision was made to level off (in preparation to return?)...If/when the CVR is recovered I believe it's very likely that the interaction of the technician and the flight crew will be a critical aspect of the tragedy and crucial to understand why they broke from established procedures for dealing with the perceived issue.