The last United flight I flew with "From the Flight Deck" available was probably twenty years ago, SFO>SEA. I recall getting a little anxious when the crew missed a sector handoff for many minutes, and finally made the freq change on the second call from the controller handling the sector we had left. It felt like we must have covered most of Southern Oregon without being in proper contact with ATC.
Seattle Times has a story out suggesting that with the stab at the max deflected position, aerodynamic forces on the trim system might have been more than could be counteracted at the jack screw by using the trim wheels, unless the pilots followed a control maneuvers not detailed in the current training manuals.
