I disagree with you there porchie.

At the level of A/c we are talking, the trim cable is wound around a spool attatched to the trim wheel. It has several turns, whereby you wind cable on and off in either direction. Exactly the same as boat with cable steering. Take a look at one if you can.

The trim wheel and spool share a common shaft, so if you are able to toss the trim wheel overboard, you'd be sending the spool over as well. End result is a couple of foot of loose cable. The electic trim might be able to help you in one direction (never the one you really want) but the end result is you have a floating trim tab.

Same goes for any control surface.


As for the autopilot servo's locking, my understanding is that, as part of the certification, the average pilot should be able to overpower the autopilot.
I did my twin ticket in about 2001, and the type i was being trained on, the official checklist included checking that this could be done. It wasn't something we did, as the engineers complained about the extra maintenance it produced, and we settled the checks to it operated correctly, and released when we pressed the big red button.