Separately, they took turns gripping the wheel as their smooth flight was interrupted by the jarring stick shaker and blaring alerts announcing the malfunction. Boeing’s own guidance said that the plane could enter an unstoppable nosedive if pilots didn’t complete the proper checklist within ten seconds. It took the test pilot just four seconds to spot the trim wheel moving, get right on that pickle switch (as the Boeing official had so helpfully reminded), and then hit the cutout. It was a maneuver he’d done probably hundreds of times over the years in the FAA’s repetitive tests of various
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