Originally Posted by
Tomaski
The crews were handed a very challenging malfunction, but it needs to be stated again that one does not trim by sight. A pilot trims by FEEL. If the controls FEEL heavy for the established pitch and power, then the pilot uses the yoke switch to trim off the pressures. The 737 requires a lot of trim inputs during the takeoff and clean up phase so yes the trim wheel is moving around a lot. The first indication that something is wrong would probably be that you are trimming, particularly in one direction, a lot more than you are used to doing. That evaluation depends on knowing what is normal and knowing what is normal depends on having sufficient experience hand-flying through the takeoff and clean up phase. Once you determine something is wrong, the proper response is not to reach for the cutout switches. The proper response is to call for the Runaway Stab Checklist. Selecting the cutouts prematurely will make the problem worse as we saw in the Ethiopian crash. The electric trim system worked just fine and overrode MCAS when it was used. Why it wasn't used properly is an important issue that goes back to how these pilots were trained. It's been reported in various threads that some airlines stopped teaching runaway trim in the sim becase it used to be such a rare event and extra training time = money. It would be interesting to learn when the last time these crews were exposed to runaway trim and/or unreliable airspeed procedures in their sim training, not that we would ever find out since their employers are probably in full CYA mode as well.
What is the legal requirement I.A.W after the AD was issued?
It said to hit the cut out switches!
But later maybe trim first(if it is a good idea)
So the correct response per the AD is immediately hit the cut out switches.
Recall 3 FAA pilots simulated this & 1 failed, in real life things were not much different.