Control column force
Looking at the charts, it seems pretty clear that someone was pulling back on that column for all they were worth at the end. If I assume a torque tube sort of connection between the right and left columns, it seems the the left seat is most likely applying most of the force. The left seat is also using the rudder pedals, so I'll assume the left seat is flying. It isn't clear to me from the NTSB description if the force shown on the right column is an artifact of that applied to the left column, or if it indicates the perons in the right seat also pulling back on the column. The NTSB seems to be saying this is an artifact; but I'd sure like to see some mechanical diagrams before I believe that out of hand.
I think there is a "reasonable" (I suppose) rationale for this back force. The AoA was far positive toward the end, but the pitch was far negative, getting up to -30 or so at the end. I suspect that this pitch down may have been obvious to the pilots in the form of gravity pulling forward, despite being somewhat countered by the engine thrust. I think at the end the pilot just paniced and forgot training, and pulled back on the stick to come out of the "dive", completely forgetting he was stalled and that was the wrong thing to do. (Maybe he had never had stall training? I find that hard to believe, but others seem to be suggesting the possibility.)
This maybe doesn't say much for pilot training, or maybe it was because he was under the weather and not thinking clearly. In either case the result was obviously ungood for all concerned. I'd be willing to give him a freebie for "anyone would likely panic at 1000 feet and -30 degrees" except for one thing -- the indications are that he was pulling back on the stick with increasing pressure all along. If he'd pushed over and then pulled back I might give him the freebie.
Wrong people in the wrong place at the wrong time. It seems clear nobody was watching airspeed after the last throttle decrease, so I suppose they thought they were flying by some cookbook recipe. Or maybe the PF was just distracted. Sigh. More training, or maybe just calling in sick would heve helped. Shame mgmt thinks both of those are bad things to do, "cheating" them out of their quarterly bonus for reducing costs.
Question on autotrim: if you don't have trim wheels, what indication do you have of the current trim situation, so you can notice if the AP is cranking in lots of trim, or just see what the trim situation is? I assume there is a trim indicator of some sort on the panel? Is it easy to read, or some little out of the way needle that is hard to get to and harder to read?