Along with what they were saying about it being more than what the pilots themselves could command as trim input
Still, holding the trim wheel stops the trim physically and also resets the MCAS timer delay.
It's never so busy that both crew members need to be hitting all kinds of buttons with both hands at the same time - both incidents could have been avoided if someone had grabbed the trim wheel. It can also be forced back to neutral with a strong grip, even if the yoke trim switch is not listening to you.
Lookie here, this video is from 2016, way before the MAX trouble started.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQirIH_DuAsThere are also good old stick and rudder techniques (Cross controls, lots of rudder) that let you hold up (Or down, if necessary) the nose of just about any airplane regardless of how screwed up the trim is. Changing engine thrust can also help. Rudders on big jets are very powerful, and with careful banking it is possible to rescue a very screwed up aircraft. I'm sure any of you who ever got your airplane shot up in old WW2 simulators have some experience nursing a plane back like this. Airshow pilots do this often as well. 200 hour copilots in a brand new jet.. not so much.
Boeing really screwed up, but I think the reason we haven't seen accidents like this in Europe and North America is because the pilot standards are way higher and the overall total flight times of the crews are way higher in general, and more evenly split between the two pilots flying.
