Originally Posted by
sinsilvia666
How come when I notice MD and DC's taxiing they only have one side of their elevator up, usually the co-pilots side I believe. Then on take-off they even up? Control lock? Curious!
Douglas did it that way to scare the crap out of the Boeing pilots...
Not really but I had to go dig out my MD-80 manual. Nice flying airplane.. anyway.
Ailerons are moved by control tabs and are cable connnected.
Pitch is controlled by two elevators with a single control tab on each elevator. "A 3000psi hydraulic power augmentor system provides elevator control for additional nose-down capability in extreme high-angle-of-attack flight conditions." This augmentor is powered when you push the control column full forward and a light illuminates "ELEVATOR PWR ON"
The rudder is powered by the right hyd systems.
As part of the BEFORE TAKEOFF CHECK, You exercise the flight controls and by going full forward on the column, you activate the powered system and that aligns the elevators. Some say the Douglas DC-9/MD-80/MD-90 family is actually fly by wire.. or more truthfully, cable. The DC stands for "direct cable" or "douglas cable".
(been a while since I drove the -80.. fun machine)