Originally Posted by
Fly Aiprt
Here is what the NTSB report insists on, and where Boeing and the FAA were wrong : in theory it should have appeared as a trim runaway, but in reality it was totally different.
Emphasis should be place on the fact that the accident aircrews were experiencing control difficulties beside all the cognitive overload, and ultimately failed to maintain pitch attitude.
The aircraft was nosing down, the elevator couldn't counter it, and the trim wasn't runaway, it was behaving in a mysterious manner.
Every pilot that experienced or witnessed the situation in the engineering cab (fixed, no g's, no movement), stated that the situation was extremely difficult to manage, even with no stress and knowing in advance what was to take place, and what the solution was.
Reacting as if it was a trim runaway would have stopped the problem. The plane could have been flown, almost 100% normally, to a safe landing. That's exactly what happened on the flight that the jump seater identified the problem as a runaway trim - the crew turned the trim off using the stab trim cutout switches and continued to their destination. I'm not advocating continuing to your destination after a stab trim problem but their actions show that it's fully controllable once the appropriate steps are taken.