Narrative:

737-800 almost settled on its tail while passengers were deplaning and cargo being unloaded. I was performing the preflight walkaround inspection as required after a crew change. Approaching the nose gear wheel well; I noticed the nose was much higher above the ground than usual. I looked at the winglets thinking this aircraft was a maximum 8. But the scimitar winglets confided it was not a maximum. I then noticed the nose gear strut was at full extension. The torque link/scissor link was fully extended. The nose of the aircraft was making a slight up and down bobbing motion. This motion was the weight of each passenger stepping of the -800 onto the jetway.I ran to the forward cargo hold and told them to stop unloading. No one on the ramp noticed the issue as they were focused upon unloading the cargo bins. I ran to the aft cargo bin to ensure they kept unloading cargo from the rear bin. Many large cardboard boxes were being unloaded from the rear bin. The aft belt loader was even with the lip of the cargo bin. After the aircraft was back to 'normal' nose strut extension; the difference between the belt loader and bin lip was 6' to 7'. This appears to indicate the front bin was being held unloaded before the belt loader was positioned at the rear bin. While waiting for the rear bin to be unloaded and more passengers left the -800; a ramp worker at the front bin said; 'I've never seen the front of the aircraft move up and down like that before.' that's because there was very little weight on the nose gear. The ground crew seemed concerned. I'm convinced if this had been a through flight with no walkaround; or the walk around was started a few minutes later; the -800 would've been on its tail with 70 to 80 passengers onboard. Once the aircraft settled on its nose gear; I had the ramp finish unloading the foreword bin. I [noticed a] 6' to 7' difference between the rear loader and rear bin. We need tail stands or ramp monitor.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 Captain reported aft aircraft settling while simultaneously unloading passengers and cargo.

Narrative: 737-800 almost settled on its tail while Passengers were deplaning and cargo being unloaded. I was performing the preflight walkaround inspection as required after a Crew change. Approaching the nose gear wheel well; I noticed the nose was much higher above the ground than usual. I looked at the winglets thinking this aircraft was a MAX 8. But the scimitar winglets confided it was not a MAX. I then noticed the nose gear strut was at full extension. The torque link/scissor link was fully extended. The nose of the aircraft was making a slight up and down bobbing motion. This motion was the weight of each Passenger stepping of the -800 onto the jetway.I ran to the forward cargo hold and told them to stop unloading. No one on the ramp noticed the issue as they were focused upon unloading the cargo bins. I ran to the aft cargo bin to ensure they kept unloading cargo from the rear bin. Many large cardboard boxes were being unloaded from the rear bin. The aft belt loader was even with the lip of the cargo bin. After the aircraft was back to 'normal' nose strut extension; the difference between the belt loader and bin lip was 6' to 7'. This appears to indicate the front bin was being held unloaded before the belt loader was positioned at the rear bin. While waiting for the rear bin to be unloaded and more Passengers left the -800; a Ramp worker at the front bin said; 'I've never seen the front of the aircraft move up and down like that before.' That's because there was very little weight on the nose gear. The Ground Crew seemed concerned. I'm convinced if this had been a through flight with no walkaround; or the walk around was started a few minutes later; the -800 would've been on its tail with 70 to 80 Passengers onboard. Once the aircraft settled on its nose gear; I had the Ramp finish unloading the foreword bin. I [noticed a] 6' to 7' difference between the rear loader and rear bin. We need tail stands or Ramp monitor.

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.