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B737-800 captain as the nfp reports the aircraft nose beginning to lift prior to V1. The flying first officer trims the nose down and rotates at vr. The trim setting remained in the green band the entire time.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1090913 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201305 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | MHLM.Airport |
| State Reference | FO |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737-800 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Takeoff |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Not Flying |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Weight And Balance |
Narrative:
On takeoff roll prior to V1 the nose wheel started to float off the ground. The first officer who was flying reacted quickly and applied forward pressure on the yoke; then rotated at or near vr. At some point he also trimmed about two units nose down to correct the problem. The trim was still in the green band. Enroute we contacted dispatch/load planner and got a print out of the exact distribution of cargo. The numbers were very close to the planned cargo from the load sheet. We made the assumption that the aircraft was truly loaded as the print out indicated. Who really knows? We had a very light passenger load which can cause an aft cg issue on the 737. This; in theory; should also been built into the weight and balance plan assuming passengers sit in their assigned seats. I'm willing to bet the marketing folks didn't consider this issue when deciding to charge more for the front of the aircraft. I had the flight attendants move about 10 passengers forward in the cabin. At no time was the aircraft out of safe cg range just farther aft than expected. When I landed (on a weekend) I called the chief pilot on call. My intent was to get the word to the station folks to make them aware and hopefully remedy the issue. No one answered the phone and no voice mail was offered.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: B737-800 Captain as the NFP reports the aircraft nose beginning to lift prior to V1. The flying First Officer trims the nose down and rotates at Vr. The trim setting remained in the green band the entire time.
Narrative: On takeoff roll prior to V1 the nose wheel started to float off the ground. The First Officer who was flying reacted quickly and applied forward pressure on the yoke; then rotated at or near VR. At some point he also trimmed about two units nose down to correct the problem. The trim was still in the green band. Enroute we contacted Dispatch/Load Planner and got a print out of the exact distribution of cargo. The numbers were very close to the planned cargo from the load sheet. We made the assumption that the aircraft was truly loaded as the print out indicated. Who really knows? We had a very light passenger load which can cause an aft CG issue on the 737. This; in theory; should also been built into the weight and balance plan assuming passengers sit in their assigned seats. I'm willing to bet the marketing folks didn't consider this issue when deciding to charge more for the front of the aircraft. I had the flight attendants move about 10 passengers forward in the cabin. At no time was the aircraft out of safe CG range just farther aft than expected. When I landed (on a weekend) I called the Chief Pilot on call. My intent was to get the word to the station folks to make them aware and hopefully remedy the issue. No one answered the phone and no voice mail was offered.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.