Originally Posted by
Bend alot
At 08:39:45, Captain requested flaps up and First-Officer acknowledged. One second later, the flap handle moved from 5 to 0 degrees and flaps retraction began.
At 08:39:50, the selected heading started to change from 072 to 197 degrees and at the same time the Captain asked the First-Officer to request to maintain runway heading.
The autopilot then disengaged and at 08:39:57, the Captain advised again the First-Officer to request to maintain runway heading and that they are having flight control problems.
At 08:40:00 shortly after the autopilot disengaged, the FDR recorded an automatic aircraft nose down (AND) activated for 9.0 seconds and pitch trim moved from 4.60 to 2.1 units. The climb was arrested and the aircraft descended slightly.
This suggests something was wrong 3 or 10 seconds prior to the start of MCAS first activation. Would you check and initially disregard the elevator trim wheel (as it was not moving) in that first 3 or 10 seconds and start focusing on other things?
As I understand these things, which is maybe not as much as others, is that the sounds on the CVR and the stuff on the FDR may not be completely synced up as presented in the preliminary report but will be in time for the final so I wouldn't bet the house on a few seconds when comparing the two until the final is out. As someone who routinely hand flies the 737 through clean-up I can tell you that the control pressures are constantly changing, the speed trim is going, and the pilot is using lots of electric trim. A 737 is a real hands on kind of aircraft in this way. If you don't hand fly alot and you have a stick shaker going on then maybe I could see someone thinking they have a "flight control" problem but personally I think the Ethiopian Captain was just confused as to what was going on and that's the first thing that came out of his mouth. He kept trying to engage the A/P and it wouldn't take, the stick shaker was a major distraction and he wasn't picking up on the clues that he had primarily an unreliable airspeed problem. Both Lion Air crews picked up on this right away so not sure why the Ethiopian crew didnt'. Maybe they never saw it in training though after AF447 you think it would be covered in the sim. Maybe the Captain was just having a bad day. Can't put to much blame on a 300hr FO. Anyway back to my original point, if your hands are on the yoke and you are hand flying the aircraft the FEEL of the controls will tell you everything you need to know about the state of the trim without having to bother watching the trim wheel. If the controls are getting heavy and you aren't doing it then something is wrong! If you don't like the feel then TRIM! That's the part I just don't get. The electric trim worked but he just didn't use it (or use it enough).