Ameristar 9363 had a runway overrun due to faults with the gear tab on the right stopping that elevator from rising so the plane get not get off the ground. NSTB investigation recommended preflight checks on the elevator and gear tabs. How is this proposed to done given they are indirectly controlled by the control tab and requires airflow and it is 9 meters above the ground?
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1Somebody has to go stand under the tail and confirm that the gear tabs are working when the stick is moved. The airline would probably do that on the Daily Inspection in the morning. The elevators would just hang there, but you would want to make sure they are both fully down. – John K Jun 06 '21 at 04:44
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1@john k As I understand it the geared tab doesn’t move unless the elevator moves. I’m pretty sure this question has been asked before and never got an answer. – TomMcW Jun 06 '21 at 19:24
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@TomMcW Depends on what it's doing. Manually operated elevators often use geared tabs to lighten forces, where you drive the surface and the tab moves in a sympathetic direction to help. DeHavilland Canada used these a lot, with the elevator itself driven by a torque tube spring that was linked to the geared tab. A small movement would mostly displace the spring tab as the torque tube twists under load and start the surface moving. A harder input would start to transmit force directly to the elevator. On the DC-9, the stick only drives the tabs and the elvs just trail in the breeze. – John K Jun 07 '21 at 02:23