Not the first time it has happened.
737-300 G-POWC EDI - STN in November 2013, grossly misloaded because the ULD loading sequence wasn't checked, and they were reversed to have the heaviest at the front instead of at the rear, to balance the heavy cargo bay door at the front.
Synopsis.
The aircraft was loaded with the unit load devices (ULD) in the reverse order to that intended. This resulted in the aircraft CG being forward of the flight envelope limits. The crew encountered handling issues during takeoff but the aircraft landed safely at the destination. History of the flight The aircraft was on a cargo flight from Edinburgh Airport to Stanstead Airport. The cargo load consisted of eight unit load device (ULD) containers. The ULDs were loaded into the aircraft through a large cargo door located in the forward left fuselage. Due to the centre of gravity of the basic aircraft it was normal, when carrying mail freight, for the ULDs to be loaded with the heaviest at the rear of the aircraft, then in descending weight order towards the front of the aircraft with any empty ULDs loaded into the forward positions. The commander witnessed the ULDs arrive beside the aircraft and recalls noting that the number on the side of one of them was consistent with that on the load instruction form. The crew did not check the position of the ULDs after they were loaded in the aircraft....
Weight and balance
In the planned configuration for the aircraft load, the takeoff CG index would have been 38.8 units. The flight envelope forward limit at this takeoff weight was approximately 16 units. The actual index with the ULDs reverse loaded, was 3.8 units.
Recorded data
The FDR revealed that a pitch input was made between 133 and 137 KIAS and that the aircraft started to rotate at approximately 141 KIAS, then continued to rotate at a rate of approximately 1º/second to a pitch angle of 15º. The calculated VR was 128 KIAS and the normal rotation rate for this aircraft is between 2.5 and 3°/second
https://assets.publishing.service.go...POWC_04-14.pdf