Originally Posted by
machtuk
I'm of the opinion an off centre rudder trim tab was not thecste cause. Christ if it was that dangerous tyen the A/C would not have got certified without additional warnings!
a properly adjusted seat, a healthy strong pilot should be able to overcome an out of trim rudder or at least a good proportion of its effect.
we'll never truly know what happened!
Having once started a takeoff roll with full left rudder trim wound in, after a series of OEI approaches, I can make the following observations:
The trim was visually checked by both pilots, the square white indicator at the end of travel looks - at a glance - very much like the square white indicator at the centre of travel.
Through about 50kt, the aircraft was drifting left and could not be managed with the full strength of the pilots leg input which is considerable. This is well before takeoff speed and I believe it highly unlikely that the incident pilot was in the same situation and still allowed the aircraft to accelerate to takeoff speed. In fact I doubt whether he could have physically held it on the runway strip long enough to even get to takeoff speed.
The situation was only examined in a SIM. It was not trialed in a real aircraft. I have also tried it in the same SIM and found it relatively easy to hold direction, very much different to the aircraft.
My opinion only.