Originally Posted by LarryJ

The data that I've seen indicates that they (ET302) were in LVL CHG with a higher altitude selected on the MCP. That puts the autothrottles into N1 mode with an N1 setting of CLB (climb power). A/T was never disconnected. Thrust stayed at 91% N1 until a few seconds before the end of the flight. Indicated airspeed was as high as 390 KIAS. Electric trim wasn't disconnected until multiple uncorrected unscheduled MCAS activations had pushed the stab to nearly full nose-down trim.

That situation would be quite difficult to recover from at such a low altitude.