I have been watching quite a few aviation videos lately (I really need a life) and have a question...It seems like many pilots do more flying using the trim wheel than the yoke...How prevalent is this and is it good practice? Is it an approved practice in general aviation as well as with the large airliners? Hope the question is clear and thanks for any replies...Steve in Kansas

I have been watching quite a few aviation videos lately (I really need a life) and have a question...It seems like many pilots do more flying using the trim wheel than the yoke...How prevalent is this and is it good practice? Is it an approved practice in general aviation as well as with the large airliners? Hope the question is clear and thanks for any replies...Steve in Kansas

I heard a check ride instructor (airliner) say this practice is wrong, and will result in a failed check ride. He stated that you should control pitch with the yoke and then adjust the trim to neutralize the pressure applied to the yoke to hold the aircraft pitch.

A definate no no in real world practice just as chasing the VSI is a no no.My instructor drilled constantly to set throttle, then trim, and leave it all alone until a change is really required. :(I can still hear him saying the yoke is for flying and the trim wheel is for trimming. :(

I have been watching quite a few aviation videos lately (I really need a life) and have a question...It seems like many pilots do more flying using the trim wheel than the yoke...How prevalent is this and is it good practice? Is it an approved practice in general aviation as well as with the large airliners? Hope the question is clear and thanks for any replies...

They may just be trimming a lot, if you can make the distinction. I trim a lot, but it's a hat switch electric trim on the stick. As far as climbs & descents, it's certainly best to use the yoke/stick, and then trim to remove any pressure.L.Adamson

Well, I can tell you that with gliders, you tend to set the speed with the stick, by adjusting the pitch, and then adjust the trim to keep the stick where you are holding it, so you can then let go of the stick if you like, or at least not have to hold it where it is. That's pretty standard practice in one of those.If you have to go fast to get out of sink, you set negative flaps and trim the thing into a slight dive. When you are in lift, you trim it to fly as slow as you can, and then tend to override that with the stick when you turn in a thermal and fly it by feel watching out for stick buffet off the elevators, so that if you have to fly level, you can let go of the stick and know that it will fly okay.It is good practice to use the trim, since you find that if you fly for hours and don't use it, i.e you are holding pitch with the stick all the time, your wrist aches like crazy later on that day.I always trim to nose down on take off, so that if things go pear shaped on a winch launch, you can let go of the stick and know you'll be okay. On an aerotow, I don't trim it down as much. That's probably not something you would do on an airliner, so is indicative that for some situations, how you trim depends on what you are flying and at what stage of the flight you are at.Al

I have to admit, that with my X-52 setup I occasionally adjust pitch with trim.Coming in to land is a good example - as you add the last notch of flaps, it's altogether easier to flatten out the balloon with a quick twirl on the "i" rotary where I map my elev-trim.For these small changes, I think it's ok - not least since, without FF, you can't of course feel the trim taking pressure off your stick.

Pitch, power, trim is the correct sequence.You make large inputs with the yoke/column/sidestick, whatever, adjust power to the new pitch, then trim to relieve the forces on your control column. You can use the trim to make small corrections. The trim really is to help you control the aircraft, so it really is used in different ways by every pilot, depends on how each of us like to fly.Adding to Al's post on gliders, normally, for airliners, you set the trim depending on weight. There are charts that tells us with the current weight what is the correct trim setting for takeoff. There's no such thing for landing.Best regards