Originally Posted by
bcmpqn
If elevator control locks were installed, would the be visible in the video. Not sure what they look like on a DC-3, as installed externally.
They are large wooden blocks, normally painted red and with a long red banner attached. But the banners tend to get frayed and shortened with time, so that's up to the operator. It would be astonishing if the pilot had not checked full-and-free control movement before starting the take-off. Hurried, multi-sector operations can lead to a degree of complacency. So failure to remove locks and pins, followed by failure to perform the pre-take-off check properly, has been done before. But that regime hardly applies to an historic-flight operation.
[Start watching at 11:00]
The key to this accident may lie in that pronounced swing to the left early in the take-off run. That could have been caused by a crosswind gust, but not by a locked elevator.