I believe it was a third pilot who just so happened to be in the plane who noticed the trim wheels spinning. From the pilot or copilot seats the trim wheels are not that noticable, especially when there was no indication or reason to believe the plane was trimming.
The trim makes a loud clacking sound when it's running, for that reason. (And the Ethiopian pilots did know the trim was running.)
This is what I mean when the newspaper articles constantly leave out crucial details. You have to read many articles to get an idea of the complete picture.
It doesn't matter that a third pilot figured out what was wrong and what the corrective action should be. Because after he did it, it was known and all the pilots should have known.
You know how you make it known to pilots? Not by reading the news. By having the manufacturer issue an airworthiness directive. And Boeing did. And yet it did not prescribe what you're advocating. Are you suggesting that you — a non-737 pilot — know better than not only the pilots in the crashed planes, but better than Boeing as well? Their AD does not list your homegrown procedure as a remedy.
You know how else to make it known to pilots? By making it a part of their training materials. But Boeing had significant financial interest in not doing so.
