Difference betwen them

I took a look at the damaged parts. The bridge and the aft engines are fine. It can fly a little." - so he used past simple to say he was looking at the damaged parts in the past so now he can say if it's ok or not

and

We've been through some bad things on this trip, but now that we see hope I'm starting to feel like this trip isn't so bad.

What do you think about that ?
Both of them has some part of "now". Somebody can tell me the meaning ? Or is it like we can use both of them ?