A/C was a BN 2:
1994, a chap that couldn't be told, loaded his A/c with sea slugs, at an away port, he loaded all the freight in the rear.
He and the owner of the freight then jumped into the front seats and blasted off, witnesses report the A/C over rotating on take off, but became stable and flew on.
On landing, the sod on short final put flap down, the A/C pitched up dramatically , stalled, crashed, burnt, no one survived, (the sea food was over cooked).
The chap had to know from the T/O that he had a C of G problem, yet he did what he did.
A short while later I had to lower myeslf from the "Twotter" and fly a F-----g "grinder" into a smallish strip:
The A/C had just come off check, I did a cockpit check of flight controls and trim movement, and positioned the trim index to the T/o position.
On approach to landing the aircraft pitched up rather violently when I lowered flap, and I could not hold it with full forward elevator, instinctively i raised the flap, and resumed elevator control, by applying some extra power and speed "if you can for a grinder", the end result was a mal aligned trim wheel & cable, an engineering issue.
The landing was uneventful apart from some laundry issues.
So the trick is to:
Place the trim wheel in the neutral position, count the forward rotations and back, then look at the bloody thing to see it is where it should be, then again fully aft and back, again counting.
The point I am making is don't go there, don't even contemplate it.
The books have the weight & Balance graphs, use them, and when I happen to fly a Prop powered machine, I roll the trim fully forward, get out and look at the elevator trim, get back in roll it fully aft, get out and look at the elevator trim, then center the trim wheel and look at the elevator trim.
Yes the F/O's think I am weird and you can not explain to them why, they are just not interested.
But I still ask them to go out stand at the rear and signal to me when the trim tabs etc are fully up, neutral, and fully down.
But as horrible as it sounds, having to pry the deceaseds burnt hands off the power levers where all the plastic had melted into the flesh & bone!!!, I just wish these F/O's that think it such a joke, had to endure what I had.
Chr's
H/Snort