Originally Posted by
Cows getting bigger
Secondly, the FCOM specifically points pilots towards considering not turning off the magic immediately - "electric trim can be used to neutralise control column pitch forces before moving stab trim cutout switches". I'm not a 737 driver but one wonders how much time (MCAS iterations) one would spend trying to balance the forces before switching off. Prior to MCAS, did the NNC include this note?
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Your reading of this AD is not quite correct. First, before you ever get to MCAS activation, you have a case of Unreliable Airspeed. That non-normal would have you disconnect the autopilot, autothrottles, and flight directors as a first step. The AD further goes on to say that the autopilot may disconnect if it is engaged. This was demonstrate quite clearly (three times) in the ET302 accident. Finally, if the autopilot was engaged, use of the Main Electric (pilot actuated) Trim would have caused the autopilot to disconnect.
As far as how much time one spends neutralizing the trim forces, basically as much time as you needed. Keep in mind that every time the pilot inputs any amount of stab trim, MCAS stops in its tracks for 5 seconds. Thus, as long as the pilot trim inputs were separated by less than 5 seconds, they could trim as long as they needed to return the control forces to neutral before using the cutout switches. From that point, they would use the manual trim wheel.