I can be over ridden, but when you have both hands of both pilots on the wheels pulling with all their strength, they might have been afraid to take a hand off the wheel to turn off auto pilot. They only had 6 minutes from take off.  They were close to the ground, not much room to maneuver.  If this had happened at 35,000 feet they would have had more options and more time to think. Or maybe they just didn't think of it (training issue).