Narrative:

The flight school just got the plane back from an annual inspection. I preflighted it thoroughly and double checked a lot of items on the preflight list. The elevator trim was set for takeoff and I did not move it. I taxied from the flight school ramp over to the school tanks and filled up. I taxied to the active runway. I did my run up and before takeoff checklist. Again I looked at the elevator trim; it was set for takeoff and I did not move it. I was cleared for closed traffic and to takeoff and did a soft field takeoff. I rotated about 50 KIAS; flew in ground effect to get my airspeed up. I had a positive rate of climb and retracted flaps to 10 degrees. Ran out of usable runway and retracted the gear. Had a positive rate of climb and retracted the flaps to 0 degrees. My airspeed was at 80 KIAS so I trimmed the nose down and the airspeed slowed. So I pushed the nose down with the yoke and tried to trim it again. The control force increased.at that point I was around 500 feet AGL and reduced RPM to 2300 and was getting ready to turn crosswind. It took considerable force to hold the yoke forward and as I turned downwind I extended the gear and reduced power to help ease the pressure off the yoke. I then checked the elevator trim indicator and it was most of the way up. I tried trimming down again and it moved up. So I moved it in the opposite direction; (to trim the nose up) and the indicator went down and the pressure on the yoke relaxed. I then trimmed the plane out using the opposite elevator trim movement as you normally would and called and asked for a full stop landing.I was close to asking for priority [handling]. Due to quick troubleshooting I found the problem and did not need assistance. I learned a very valuable lesson today. When a plane comes out of inspection do a very thorough preflight; which I did; but also move the trim tabs on the ground to make sure they deflect in the correct direction.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C182RG pilot reported taking off and becoming aware the elevator trim had been rigged backwards.

Narrative: The flight school just got the plane back from an annual inspection. I preflighted it thoroughly and double checked a lot of items on the preflight list. The elevator trim was set for takeoff and I did not move it. I taxied from the flight school ramp over to the school tanks and filled up. I taxied to the active runway. I did my run up and before takeoff checklist. Again I looked at the elevator trim; it was set for takeoff and I did not move it. I was cleared for closed traffic and to takeoff and did a soft field takeoff. I rotated about 50 KIAS; flew in ground effect to get my airspeed up. I had a positive rate of climb and retracted flaps to 10 degrees. Ran out of usable runway and retracted the gear. Had a positive rate of climb and retracted the flaps to 0 degrees. My airspeed was at 80 KIAS so I trimmed the nose down and the airspeed slowed. So I pushed the nose down with the yoke and tried to trim it again. The control force increased.At that point I was around 500 feet AGL and reduced RPM to 2300 and was getting ready to turn crosswind. It took considerable force to hold the yoke forward and as I turned downwind I extended the gear and reduced power to help ease the pressure off the yoke. I then checked the elevator trim indicator and it was most of the way up. I tried trimming down again and it moved up. So I moved it in the opposite direction; (to trim the nose up) and the indicator went down and the pressure on the yoke relaxed. I then trimmed the plane out using the opposite elevator trim movement as you normally would and called and asked for a full stop landing.I was close to asking for priority [handling]. Due to quick troubleshooting I found the problem and did not need assistance. I learned a very valuable lesson today. When a plane comes out of inspection do a very thorough preflight; which I did; but also move the trim tabs on the ground to make sure they deflect in the correct direction.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.