Hey. I have a question: how do you RL flyboys (and girls) use trim? And i'm talking about fine adjustment here, especially on approach. Do you first move the yoke to get the proper attitude, and then trim, or do you just use the trim without moving the yoke? I have a feeling it's the former...

Usually it becomes second nature, you will find that you trim without thinking about it. Normally I will notice that I'm having to apply forward or back pressure on the yoke to hold my current picture. I then thumb in a click or two at a time until the pressure is not needed. Typically as you are slowing you are clicking nose up and nose down as you accelerate. Some people will do intervals of trimming and relaxing the pressure to see what the plane does afterwards. I like to use a click or so at a time for fine tuning and more trim movement during flap changes and speed brake use. On approach, some guys like to fly with a slightly heavy yoke. This way they get a good feel for yoke input during the flare. This helps with over flaring. I'm more old school as i like to trim the pressure away and finger tip fly(DC-10). I do find that the slightly heavy yoke technique works well in the G-5/550 as she is easy to over flare and float. Just my opinion.

Ahem *cough*, I've just remembered I'm already famous, and have a youtube of myself doing this *cough* Yeah, thats me in the right hand seat.

And humble too! ;)Jokes aside. Great reading and nice footage! Keep it coming! Cheers,

Normally I will notice that I'm having to apply forward or back pressure on the yoke to hold my current picture. I then thumb in a click or two at a time until the pressure is not needed.

Thanks for the reply :)So, as i understand it, you normally use the yoke to maintain attitude, and then you trim. I had a feeling that's how it's done. When i was in flight school we didn't trim all that often, mainly because we had no electric trim. We would just trim for level flight on downwind, and that would be it. And as far as flight simulator goes, for small changes (the kind you might do on approach) I find it's much easier to just trim the aircraft, without using the joystick, because of deadzones, lack of any kind of feedback through the stick... So trim just makes it much smoother. Thanks again.

Honestly I find that you don't have to trim as much in flightsim. In the real airplane, the yoke is more rigid. You push against the tension of springs, compensators, and artificial feel systems. An out of trim condition is more noticeable. Between the flight model, control device and control settings, you can get it close enough. I use the PFC yoke and it simulates the feel nicely. If you can get a device that is rigid, smooth, sensitive and without large dead zones, you will be in the sweet spot.

Simon's posts should be stickied IMO....

Simon, someone asked a page or two ago what view settings you use in the NGX as far as zoom level but I don't think I saw a reply.I'm also interested in what default zoom level you use in the virtual cockpit. 1.0 is zoomed in too much. I'm currently using .80 but curious as to what you think is a realistic viewpoint taking into account the restrictions of a computer screen in a virtual 3D cockpit.

Honestly I find that you don't have to trim as much in flightsim. In the real airplane, the yoke is more rigid. You push against the tension of springs, compensators, and artificial feel systems. An out of trim condition is more noticeable. Between the flight model, control device and control settings, you can get it close enough. I use the PFC yoke and it simulates the feel nicely. If you can get a device that is rigid, smooth, sensitive and without large dead zones, you will be in the sweet spot.

Re: FS, almost all planes have trim and elevator that is waaaaaay toooooo sensitive. However it seems PMDG got this correct in the NGX, at least it feels a lot better to me, and I use the CH Yoke.

Simon, someone asked a page or two ago what view settings you use in the NGX as far as zoom level but I don't think I saw a reply.I'm also interested in what default zoom level you use in the virtual cockpit. 1.0 is zoomed in too much. I'm currently using .80 but curious as to what you think is a realistic viewpoint taking into account the restrictions of a computer screen in a virtual 3D cockpit.

I have stuck with what PMDG recommend in the manual - 0.6, but the view will never be able to compare to real life using just one monitor unfortunately. I'm using Track IR as well, but I find myself rapidly flicking through the overhead and centre console views quite often to set things up there, which works fine for me. I have a HOTAS Cougar (not very 737-ish!) but nonetheless I find that the amount of deflection required to obtain a certain rate of movement is close enough to reality that I don't notice any glaring errors, in fact it's very pleasant to hand fly, just like the real aircraft. As PIC007 mentions, a lot of FS aircraft are way too sensitive, especially in pitch (the real full motion simulators actually suffer from the same thing to a very slight degree, that is, sensitivity in pitch IMHO). I think PMDG have got the right feel in this regard. Trim wise, G550 has summed it up accurately.

Thanks a million Simon, One of the greatest post..really appreciate it.

Hmmm - I've been flying ZWP, since I fly it IRL and I've got it configured as close to reality as I can so far. Tabs has asked me to get them an updated .ini file so that they can update it as 'closest to reality' on the PMDG site, which I do plan on doing, just waiting for final confirmation on one or two points (I want to fly it again IRL for a final check). It's possible that the panelstate file may cause issues if your aircraft is configured differently to the one I'm using (ie you have ETOPS, HUGS etc and I don't), but I'm not clued up enough on the technical details behind PMDG's programming here. I've reloaded it several times, and while not all options that I set were saved as I had them, it loads fine. I haven't uploaded my aircraft configuration .ini here yet since it's not final (about 90% confirmed at the moment), and I (and perhaps PMDG too) would prefer to avoid different versions floating around.

There's no issue with panel states and the options someone has set btw - we accounted for that.

An excellent write up Simon, & taking the time to produce it. Found it very educational! It's not often you get an in depth info on R/W operations on forums. (A thank you to Scott for compileing the PDF) Stewart Thompson.

Why isn't this post stickied yet?

I put together a comprehensive checklist guide based on all the information supplied by Simon in this thread.I also made a new thread with this checklist but wanted to post it here too for those following this thread. Simon, when you get a chance in your schedule could you have a look at let me know if anything is missing/incorrect?Thanks!

Wow!! What a great thread!Simon, your the MAN! Thank you so much. This information is like a savory steak for us flight sim/NGX enthusiasts. We hang on every word.Thank you again, so much. Bob