Can anyone tell me if I can add a Digital Trim Gauge to the quest kodiak panel without having to go to the expense of purchasing a full program such as fs panel studio, as Im only wanting to do this one thing, and it seems a bit expensive considering. If so, is it fairly straight forward to a novice like myself. Reason being Its frustrating placing the mouse pointer on the trim wheel only to find the readout goes after a few seconds, making it necessary to keep moving the pointer to get a readi g again.|Thanks...John

Why do you need to see your pitch trim with such precision and so often? That's not done in the RW except for heavies (where it's pre-takeoff set-and-forget)...Cheers,- jahman.

Open the panel.cfg file in notepad. Find where the coordinates of where you want to put the gauge, the size and make the entry. Simple and free.

Thanks guys, am trying to determin the best descent configurations of the quest kodiak with regards to ideal power, and trim to achieve a given ( fpm) descent, flying by numbers. My question also was where can I get a digital gauge, and whether any gauge will work in the kodiak or does it need to be specific, and once I have a gauge file can it be squeezed into a space somewhere in the existing panel or does it need to replace a not so needed gauge. Have no exp of modifying panels. John

Hi.I'm in the process of doing the same sort of thing for Flight1's C441.It seems to me that when 'really' flying, rather than calibrating the model, the most precision I'd achieve would be counting the clicks (pitch trim set by joystick buttons), analogous to remembering the trim wheel's position, so I haven't bothered looking for a temporary digital gauge for the calibration exercise. Flying a calibration descent of 10 000 feet or more gives ample time for the plane to stabilise at the trimmed airspeed so I can find airspeed, TOD and BOD vertical speed, fuel burn and distance covered for a variety of power settings.Still, if you do find a gauge let us know as it would certainly add greater precision. I'd recommend just putting it in its own window within the panel.cfg. That's easier to do and easier to remove so when you come to fly (rather than to calibrate) you can remove it for improved realism.Regards,D

Hi Dave, I'm interested in being quite accurate with my descents flying into an airport manually with little help fromelectronic wizadry, it's more of a challenge and that's why I need a gauge digitally preferably to descend the last few thou' to the FAF and onto the MAP. Don't have a lot o time to regulate and stabilise the FPM then, so after altering pitch and power, it's important at that point to be able to get a good steady rate of fpm with the help of pitch trim. Defiantly need a digital gauge for that, am I the only fsx pilot out there trying this, surely not !!.

Speed control is the secret to achieving a proper descent rate, not pitch.

Thanks again n4gix, seems you are indeed my fairy godmother, lol. I will try and work on my speed control in that case. Thanks again... John

1 other thing n4gix, if speed control is what regulates fpm, when transcending from straight and level to a steady descent, why is it necessary to apply forward pressure on the yoke why not just throttle back to achieve the desired fpm. There is obviously a reason for it and me being inquisitive makes me ask the question!.

1 other thing n4gix, if speed control is what regulates fpm, when transcending from straight and level to a steady descent, why is it necessary to apply forward pressure on the yoke why not just throttle back to achieve the desired fpm. There is obviously a reason for it and me being inquisitive makes me ask the question!.

In a nutshell, momentum. The plane is travelling in one direction, it will take a little time to alter its direction (downward).The stability of an aircraft can be seen as how quickly it returns to an equlibrium after a change in control input. You can imagine when you reduce thrust the plane slows a little. In terms of physics, that is what initiates its descent. As it begins to descend, airspeed increases again. If the plane is inherently unstable the increase in speed will reduce the descent rate, which will reduce the speed, which will increase the descent rate... and so on. If the plane is inherently stable it won't go through many of those cycles before it settles into a steady airspeed & descent rate.All planes have some instability and it helps to give some input from the stick to dampen any oscillation, so helping the plane settle sooner into its new steady-state. From simming experience, having a heavy cargo at the front & back, with nothing in the middle seems to increase instability despite not necessarily affecting the plane's centre of gravity. It pays to distribute cargo carefully...Regards,D

As Dave has stated, equilibrium, or "steady-state." The major purpose of elevator trim (or pitch) control is to relieve stick/yoke pressure. A secondary purpose is to "pitch for speed" during an climb or descent.

Real big thanks for that guys, really appreciate your help. Can I ask another question?.I have been using a laptop as a secondary screen so whilst flying can have plan- g up, I find this a great boost for visual awareness and for landing purposes. Both machines were connected online wirelessly, but I found plan-g very slow probably because my router is a good distance away. I decided to connect the pc's together using a crossover cable but now plan-g won't connect with fsx ?. Have tried changing settings over to ipv 4, auto, fsuic etc but still no success. My knowledge of networking with a crossover cable is limited, but I think I have got them both speaking to each other as I can go into network folder on either machine and see the other pc's folders. I have plan- g installed in my fsx folder of the desktop, and shared that folder with the laptop, but don't know what else to do.any ideasccc

Just to add, will be running a Ethernet cat5 cable to my desktop upstairs in my computer room at weekend to give me a better connection, will the crossover cable enable the laptop to receive a Internet signal off the desktop without having to be wireless, and help plan-g function better?.Hope I'm not using up too much of your time, johnboy