Originally Posted by PJ2
TTex600, re the autotrim and THS, you told only part of the story! The trim went back to its original setting when you fiddled with it because that's what it is and does...it's a full-time autotrim in normal and alternate laws. Manual (mechanical) trim IS available at all times just as the FCOM says, when needed, (such as in direct law or a G+Y Hyd flr), it will stay in the position the pilot puts it in. That's just part of knowing one's airplane.
PJ2, I told the story the books tell. My original, literal, reading of the manual said that man trim always works. The books mean what you write, but in today's "self study" world such language should be more clear. Truth is, it is only usable, it only works when the computers give up and say use man trim.
As usual, my round-a-bout point is that the bus doesn't fly like "any other airplane". I have attempted to "fly it like any other airplane"' and it DONT. Some have a seeming desire to discus this accident as if the Bus is flown like the airplane they retired from, or like an airplane that is pilot flown vs computer flown; some want to assume that Bus trim works from
their perspective. This just isn't so. One needs to place one's self in Bonin/Roberts exact shoes before judgement.
Edit to add: the bus almost totally removes trim from the pilots conscience thought process. More later