B737-700 Pitch Control

[Flight Detent]

This one has got me wondering -

A colleague asked me this today (for which I have no answer!) -

Hopefully someone here may be able to enlighten me!

The B737 NG flight controls description says this in relation to elevator loads control, in part, with the airplane on the ground.

"The stabilizer and elevator are in neutral with each other with the stab set at 4.0 units. Now, if the stab is moved either nose up or down, the elevator will always move upwards to compensate."

I may be showing my age here, but this one just gets right by me, can anyone do a short explanation for me?

Cheers, FD

[CaptainSandL]

I’ll try.

The elevator neutral shift is made up of two components, the first is due to stabilizer position and the second is controlled by the flight control computer.

Your extract was only referring to the stab input to neutral shift and does indeed only move the elevator upwards. The FCC input moves the elevator up or down as required depending upon Cof G and flap position. The total input is the sum of the two and may cause the elevator to move up or down.

S&L