Originally Posted by
infrequentflyer789
What do you make of this from ET:
05:40:27 - the Captain advised the First-Officer to trim up with him
Bearing in mind preceding it is an ineffective (in timing and duration compared to 1st MCAS input) period of manual ANU trim, and following it is a period of manual trim that both interrupts the 2nd MCAS input, is constant/continuous and reverses it (but doesn't reverse the first MCAS input).
It sounds (to this non-pilot engineering type) awfully like the Captain's left thumb (or it's switch) does not have the Captain's confidence, and not at all like he has just not "chosen to use it".
Or, put another way, under what circumstances as a 737 driver would you ask your co-driver to "trim up (or down) with you"? If the answer is "don't know any circumstances " or "would never do that", then WTF was going on in the ET cockpit to trigger that request?
There is abundant information here to show that this crew was absolutely overwhelmed by the circumstances they faced. There are many, many head scratchers that simply defy explanation if your going in assumption is that the crew was in control of the situation. They were not. Rather, the situation was clearly in control of them. So you must pardon me if I do not attempt to provide a rational explanation for many of their actions.