Originally Posted by
FCeng84
Where this notion of "40 seconds" comes from is a total mystery - particularly when coupled with the statement "... without the crew using the trim switches". The scenario that led to problems after 40 seconds must have included short, ineffective periods of crew pitch trim switch commands that did not establish column force free pitch trim but did enable MCAS to insert another increment of airplane nose down stabilizer.
Spot on: just a blip on the pitch trim doing nothing more than stopping the uncommanded trim. That is how I read it too. After 5 seconds of wait, MCAS will get back into action. But certainly a highly unrealistic scenario, one would think.