Please forgive me for offering readers a warning on terminology here, from my experience of various jet transports with THS under one name or another. "Nose-up" is a term normally used to indicate the trim-effect on the aircraft, not the physical position of the THS. Because the THS is hinged at its aft spar, it's easy to think of "nose-up" as meaning that the leading-edge of the THS is up. Not so.
For maximum nose-up trim, a THS is at its fullest NEGATIVE incidence, with its leading-edge fully down. The A330's mechanical limit seems to be -14 (see PJ2/mm43 discussion). We call that "14 degrees nose-up" (14NU). For a typical take-off, the THS setting calculated on the trim-sheet by load-control might be 3NU. This requires the incidence of the THS to be -3 deg. However, load control and most pilots refer to it as "+3". Confusing, perhaps, but that's the way it is.
To further illustrate that good reminder from
Chris Scott, here are two views from the left hand side of the THS :
Good eyes are needed, but a scale is visible just forward of the THS.
Both THS are at the
GND SET position, which is also 4 deg UP, or minus 4. That’s the position where the THS is automatically reset after every landing.
The
0 (zero) position is also visible, with 2 units above and 14 below.
As the CG was pretty much forward for the AF447 takeoff, at 23%, the THS had probably been set initially at a position around 6 deg UP.
I ask again - why is it you're asking this of the BEA and no other accident investigation bureau/institution? Is one incident forever going to preclude acceptance of any finding of theirs that includes "pilot error" as a factor?
Also, you're a pilot, I'm an engineer - but I wouldn't trust myself to derive a correct conclusion from the raw data. What makes you so sure you could?
DozyWannabe, if tomorrow I don’t make it, I want my wife, children, best friends, to have a look TOO at MY data when my authorities will set
their dirty move.
PS : Thanks for your friendly pm - I will answer or comment when time permits.
EDIT : Much better view on the scale on this image proposed by
aguadalte
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic: Orbest Airbus A330-200 CS-TRA - detail of horizontal stabilizer - Punta Cana International Airport - PUJ / MDPC - photo by M.Torres - Travel-Images.com
