Folks,
It really pays to do proper control checks preflight, full and free and in the correct sense, including trims,and this goes double after maintenance, especially after maintenance. And did I say after maintenance.
This applies to any aircraft.
My first real airborne serious emergency was losing aileron control during a C.of A flight test, in retrospect, if I had been more thorough in my pre-flight, I would have noticed that the aileron cables were not adequately tensioned (Auster Autocar).
Twice I have had restricted controls in a C-172, one was a riveting dolly left in the wing, the other a zinc chromate pressure pack left in the tail cone. I found a large torch built into the wing of an aircraft I had just purchased, amongst the aileron bellcrank, despite the engraved name of a LAME, he denied the torch was his. I have been on YSBK twice, when aircraft have got airborne with aileron sense reversed, one resulted in a badly crumpled aircraft, the other, due to a remarkable pilot using his controls reversed, got back on the ground without damage.
Air Pacific damned near lost a B747-438 on takeoff at Los Angeles, after maintenance on the controls, a full control check was not performed, they found the problem when the aircraft, at near max weight, got airborne with a with a number of spoiler panels up. It was only ground effect over the water that kept this aircraft in the air long enough to get the gear up and dump fuel. It was probably more critical than the QF A-380, QF32, out of Singapore.
The size of the aircraft and of the maintenance system system is not absolute protection, and it is your neck. Not to mention passengers, maybe three of four, or three or four hundred.
I have personally had a case of restricted trim range on a large aircraft, picked up on the post-maintenance control check, limit switches were miss-set ---- which is why Boeing have index markers on the stab, so you can physically see that the stab. is running through the correct range.
The message is real simple, folks, and never miss it.
Tootle pip!!