This post is an attempt to get an answer on a 10yr old question that has always bugged me. Appreciate anyone taking the time to indulge my curiosity by responding. I've had a VFR PPL for 20 yrs (250 hrs). About 10 yrs ago I purchased On Top v8.5 and a CH Flight Sim yoke to practise IFR at home. I was instantly impressed (initially) with this software; since I'm not particularly IT savvy, I was very happy with being able to get up and flying quickly, the controls were very natural, and the instrument display was easy and familiar (scenery was not important).

 

....so there I am in a Mooney aircraft and....do you think I can trim this thing for level flight? Not a chance in hell. After wrestling with the aircraft going up and down to no avail I decided to get scientific and properly document this problem. I put the aircraft in level flight, cruise configuration using autopilot in altitude mode. Once the autopilot has done what was impossible for me (trimming in pitch). I disengaged autopilot taking care not to touch the yoke. After confirming that the plane was still established in level flight I then (without moving yoke) hit the trim up button for a fraction of a second. Guess what....the plane started to climb at about 1500fpm.....after a very short 'burst' of trim up.

 

Needless to say this behaviour was a total show-stopper. Impossible to fly.

 

I then checked the setup etc, etc. (The plane was receiving a short burst of trim up as observed by the very small movement of the trim wheel on the cockpit display-so the problem was within the plane dynamics not the joystick feeding too much trim command). I also contacted ASA who did their utmost to help me but to no avail.

 

The end result....never used this software again, what could have been perfect for my needs ended up being a waste of money due to this one problem that couldn't be rectified.

 

Did anyone else use this software and experience the same problems? Would love to know purely for my own curiosity.

Thankyou in advance for any replies

You shoulf really have opted for ELITE...

 

I also bought On-Top v9, and soon after changed to ELITE, and am very satisfied I did it...

 

There isn't , IMO, any other flightsim, including those mass use ones we all know about, that models so well, so close to real, the main characteristics of a Cessna, Piper, Mooney, or Beechcraft, among the models tha make part of the ELITE v8 fleet, period...

 

If you're up for IFR practce / proficiency traninning, there is only one serious way - ELITE.