On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 22:23:02 -0600, "Lady Pilot"
wrote:


Oz, I really doubt that your friend could have known about the trim in a
preflight unless one guy was at the controls and the other guy outside
judging his movement on the trim vs. the elevator. ...
But you can't normally preflight a trim.

All the captain had to do was look to his right and down at the trim
indicator to see that the aircraft was trimming nose down. That is
what he did and how he knew what was wrong.

The trim is always preflighted. Trim operation and movement as
displayed by the trim indicator is part of the prestart checkist. The
switch is on the yoke, it is operted by thumb and the indicator shows
the direction and range of travel. Control pressure tells which way
you need to trim.

The FO thought like you do. He could only operate the switch in the
direction he was trained and used to. He fixated on what he felt and
what he was used to doing, rather than stopping to take a look at the
indicator he ignored on the preflight checks.

Rick