Originally Posted by
Hadley Rille
Can somebody please explain how the elevator "correct sense" check is carried out on this type of aircraft?
There really is no "correct sense" check that can be done by the flight crew, insofar as determining from the flight deck that the elevator moves on the correct direction - i.e. up with aft yoke movement, and down with forward yoke movement. Unlike later models like the G-550, the G-IV has no control surface position displays on the flight deck for ailerons, elevators or spoilers.
The only check that the crew can do is to insure that the flight controls have full freedom of movement before flight. Based on the NTSB preliminary report, the FDR data does not indicate that this was accomplished prior to commencing takeoff - potentially a key omission.
Obviously the pitch control system was working on the aircraft's inbound flight to BED from ACY, so whatever failure occurred to prevent rotation, happened at some point between landing and the next (unsuccessful) attempt to take off.