In article ,
B A R R Y wrote:

I got to the airport to do the post-annual flight. My first takeoff was
interesting, as the trim indicator must have gotten whacked when the
seats went back in. It appeared to function normally, but was WAY OFF
the actual position, reading way aft of actual setting. Talk about an
"Armstrong" takeoff!

I always visually check the trim mechanism. Set the trim wheel in the
cockpit to the neutral position. Then, during the walk-around, hold the
elevator parallel with the longitudinal axis of the airplane and observe
that the anti-servo tab is fair with the main elevator surface. If the
trim indicator is "whacked", it will be immediately obvious that the trim
tab isn't in the right place.

You didn't say what kind of plane you've got, so you may or may not be able
to do this. For example, on a V-tail, there's no obvious reference plane
to hold the rudervators parallel to (and pushing them around by hand may
not be good for them). But on many types, it's a trivial check.