Yes they are manually connected but not mechanically assisted in any large (maybe any) part and the nose down trim and full back on the yoke made the manual whe

Yes they are manually connected but not mechanically assisted in any large (maybe any) part and the nose down trim and full back on the yoke made the manual wheel impossible to use. Thumbing the switch will work to disengage the mcas temporarily yes. I think the only way to survive this is to use the electrical trim assist to get to level flight and then shut off the system. After it’s level you can go ahead and trim using the manual wheel. Well the other way to survive this is to not have Boeing design the mcas to read from one sensor only and also have mcas operate in a narrow authority.