Originally Posted by
Loose rivets
That's left me a little confused. Even if the negative g was at the time I eluded to, any positive results of ANU pulses would be a very welcome positive g. Pilots hitting the ceiling?
BTW, there if no "if" about the g-forces. They are included in the published FDR data. The aircraft registered nearly negative 2 g's near the end of the flight. If the pilots had not been strapped in, they surely would have hit the ceiling. At a minimum, the Captain lost some leverage against the yoke as he was attempting to pull back.
You have to keep in mind that in this flight region beyond Vmo, the aircraft would be reacting very differently than normal to control inputs. There were already plenty of signs that the ET302 Captain was not particularly comfortable with hand flying, and that was with an aircraft within the flight envelope. If you've ever been an instructor pilot and seen a student pilot make very tentative control inputs because they are nervous about what will happen, then that's the closest example I could give of why the Captain was not more assertive with making the necessary trim adjustments.