The Lion Air pilots were not even aware of the existence of the MCAS system, because Boeing at the time did not include any information about it in its manuals.
The behavior would be similar to runaway stabilizers, though, for which B737 pilots have memory items to perform (turn off the trim). This would have solved that problem. However, several other warnings and alerts, like stick shaker, might have been going off at the same time, making the situation chaotic and problems hard to diagnose.
The behavior would be similar to runaway stabilizers, though, for which B737 pilots have memory items to perform (turn off the trim). This would have solved that problem. However, several other warnings and alerts, like stick shaker, might have been going off at the same time, making the situation chaotic and problems hard to diagnose.