Originally Posted by
afterburn81
Any 737 guys that could chime in on this one? I'm quite curious how this could have happened. If you press something or better yet, if the aircraft becomes upset from something wouldn't you correct that motion? I'm just trying to put the events together. This is pretty much a conventional aircraft. Meaning, if you make a control input, there isn't anything that is going to stop you from reversing that input. Once again, something in aviation that doesn't really make sense.
The rudder trim is a giant round knob, a little bigger than the diameter of a golf ball, in the middle of the center pedestal just forward of the aft edge, maybe 8-10". It's a turn and hold, to input rudder trim and you'd have to hold it a LOOOOONG time for any roll input to flip the airplane. If the auto pilot was on you'd see the yoke start to roll in order to maintain wings level, before the auto pilot kicked off. I'm not sure how long it would take but I'd guess 15-20 seconds. Once the autopilot kicks off, ya hang on.
On the new Boeing door, the knob is a small blade style, in the back right corner of the pedestal. It turns from about 12 to either 10 or 2 for unlock or deny. You click it once.
How someone could mistake the two is unfathomable to me.