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If I'm reading this correctly, that sensor fed into computer which was automatically controlling trim settings. If that's the case, an erroneous reading could change how the plane flies dramatically.

IANAP ... please correct me if I'm wrong here.

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The trim system on this aircraft is not stronger than the input the pilot can make via the pitch control system (the yoke and its trim override switch)

Edit: clarified about switch

Is that an and or an or? Would the yoke have avoided the crash by itself with enough applied force, or did the pilots also need to determine that the aircraft was trimming itself incorrectly and do something special to disconnect that? Seems like they didn't do that, in either case.

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