Dear all,

 

I purchased a new Saitek flight yoke but have found that once the plane has lift-off from the ground, the V/S increases so high that in order to have a normal climb, I need to have the yoke nearly pointed downwards. Does anyone know why this? Is there anyway to calibrate it so this does not occur?

Could the trim on your plane need adjusting?

Could the trim on your plane need adjusting?

 

+1 on that, set take off trim correctly and you should be good to fly, also remember you will need to retrim when you change the flaps settings

So I need to trim down in order to compensate for the uncontrolled climb upwards?

So I need to trim down in order to compensate for the uncontrolled climb upwards?

 

Yes. Before you take-off make sure you have set your trim to it's 0 value (or whatever is recommended for that particular aircraft - some require different trim settings for take-off). As with most phases of flight (apart from levelling off from a climb) it's worth using the common aeronautical mnemonic P.A.T = Power, Attitude, Trim. Set your power, set the correct attitude with your yoke, then trim to keep that attitude. This is what we use in "real world" flying and it works reasonably well in FSX too.

 

Hope this helps

So pilots are always adjusting trim during climb? Even in large airliners?

So pilots are always adjusting trim during climb? Even in large airliners?

 

In larger commercial aircraft they normally use the autopilot in the climb above 1000ft or so. The autopilot will control the pitch trim automatically. It's good to hand fly airliners occasionally to keep in practice. There have been too many recent fatal accidents related to pilots relying on autopilots to fly their aircraft and forgetting about the "bigger picture" (ie..the basics of flying!).

 

Without autopilot you can still trim manually for a constant attitude and constant vertical speed. Once you've made the course trim adjustments you should only need to make occasional fine adjustments to the trim to keep it flying the way you want it to. Once your aircraft is in trim (or "trimmed out") it's a happy aeroplane and you can concentrate on the other important flying matters like navigation, fuel management and just enjoying the view!

It's not something you will have to do all the time.Like gandy said you might have to trim again when you change your flaps. Do a trial and error , when you take off if your heading for the sky, trim down. Some planes may be nose heavy do the opposite for that. My default Lear Jet needs a lot of trim because it will climb like a rocket without it. Do you know how to trim?

This is a good article on learning how to trim.

 

http://www.pilotfriend.com/training/flight_training/fxd_wing/trim.htm