A321
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Weight And Balance
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors; Procedure
During takeoff felt nose coming off ground about 20 knots prior to rotation. Aircraft was light and only 85 passengers. Had to apply nose down pressure on stick; very unusual for the Airbus (I only have 1;400 hours; 2 years in the fleet).Guessing only: Trim setting/CG wrong?
On the takeoff roll after 80 knots but well before V1 I noticed the normal bumps and jolts from the nose gear tire smoothening out; like it was getting lighter. I saw the nose begin to lift slowly off the ground and brought it to my CA's (Captain's) attention. He wasn't pulling up on the side stick and I think he even started pushing it down but we were rotated approximately 10-20 knots before V1.The close out TOW CG was farther forward than normal; but not out of bounds as far as I could tell.
A321 flight crew reported the nose of the aircraft became light approximately 20 knots below V1; possibly indicating a problem with CG or trim setting calculations.