Originally Posted by
Takwis
I told the story here somewhere, of a late night test flight after an elevator pushrod installation ( the wrong way, unfortunately) When the mechanic turned off the hydraulic pumps to put us into manual reversion, there was an immediate forceful pitch-up. Both the Captain and I pushed forward with all our might, but didn’t really regain control until the mechanic got the pumps back on. As far as I can remember, recognition was instantaneous, the altitude gain was minimal, and the negative Gs put us put us light in the seats. It was all done in a few seconds. Fighting with something we didn’t understand, I am sure it would have been much more serious.
The elevator pushrods cannot be installed upside down.
The purpose of the the Elevator Power Off Test is to see how many turns of the Stabiliser Trim Wheels it takes to trim the aircraft, from memory its about 2.5 turns, any more than that then adjustments have to be made.
These procedures are written in the AMM and also in the DDG.