Whatever aircraft I chose to fly with I seem to be always needing to adjust the elevator trim and aileron trim for level flight.

I adjust the trim one 'click' then manually level the aircraft (using joystick) and after a few minutes I need to adjust again sometimes in the opposite 'direction'. I wouldn't have thought that flying a real aircraft would require constantly adjusting the trim to achieve level flight.

Also occasionally when I start up X-Plane I am prompted to insert disk one which I do and then see a message to advise update has taken place. Is this normal? Is there anyway I can set up X-Plane so that it 'remembers' that it has been 'registered'?

Thanks

John

I agree, trimming an aircraft to level flight in XP is impossible. Even with throtte adjustments few moments later the aircraft goes up .... or down.

I don't know about XP but in real life, setting the trim is not set and forget.  Trim has to be adjusted for the environment you are flying in. You may set the trim while flying over a forested area, and have to re-trim when you break out over water or farm land. It has to do with thermals, fronts, relative winds, etc...  If you are lucky on a particular flight you might get away with setting  the trim once and having it hold for a long time. The key is not to chase the aircraft. It will still move laterally and vertically to some degree.

The way I was taught, is to level the aircraft and then trim for level flight.  There again, I'm not sure how XP handles all this.

 

Thanks for your replies.

I agree with Rick even though I have never flown a real aircraft only sat in the back of a Beechcraft Duchess and front seat in a DH Beaver but cannot remember seeing either pilot continually adjusting trim and what I mean my continually I mean every 2 or 3 minutes as happens in XP.

I wondered if there was some setting in XP which could be adjusted. Maybe also I could be chasing the aircraft BUT I don't notice this nearly as much in FSX or PR3D

Marry this lady, and she'll teach ya !

 

12 hours ago, Jarnie said:

Thanks for your replies.

I agree with Rick even though I have never flown a real aircraft only sat in the back of a Beechcraft Duchess and front seat in a DH Beaver but cannot remember seeing either pilot continually adjusting trim and what I mean my continually I mean every 2 or 3 minutes as happens in XP.

I wondered if there was some setting in XP which could be adjusted. Maybe also I could be chasing the aircraft BUT I don't notice this nearly as much in FSX or PR3D

Hi,

if you only need to trim every 2 or 3 minutes you are one lucky guy in a very stable aircraft 😉

A real aircraft can´t really be trimmed for extended hands-off flight. You don´t necessarily have to trim all the time, but you can´t let go of the controls and expect the aircraft to go straight. If that were possible, people wouldn´t put expensive wing-levelers or autopilots into their aircraft. It´s almost like a car - take it onto a really straight road and see how long you can let go of the wheel at 50mph...

Slower aircraft don´t have as much trimming requirements as faster aircraft (less speed range), so usually the trim wheel is manual in those. Faster aircraft almost always have trim buttons on the yoke or stick, as trimming is a constant necessity.

Depending on the way an airplane is set up to work in X-Plane, you may find the trimming too "coarse" - i.e. one click of trim is too much effect - this can be adjusted in planemaker (adjust the trim-travel-time, the shorter the time, the faster it moves).

Cheers, Jan

 

Exactly Jan, one click is too much in either direction most of the time.

1 hour ago, Janov said:

Hi,

if you only need to trim every 2 or 3 minutes you are one lucky guy in a very stable aircraft 😉

A real aircraft can´t really be trimmed for extended hands-off flight. You don´t necessarily have to trim all the time, but you can´t let go of the controls and expect the aircraft to go straight. If that were possible, people wouldn´t put expensive wing-levelers or autopilots into their aircraft. It´s almost like a car - take it onto a really straight road and see how long you can let go of the wheel at 50mph...

Slower aircraft don´t have as much trimming requirements as faster aircraft (less speed range), so usually the trim wheel is manual in those. Faster aircraft almost always have trim buttons on the yoke or stick, as trimming is a constant necessity.

Depending on the way an airplane is set up to work in X-Plane, you may find the trimming too "coarse" - i.e. one click of trim is too much effect - this can be adjusted in planemaker (adjust the trim-travel-time, the shorter the time, the faster it moves).

Cheers, Jan

 

 

Edited May 27, 20188 yr by torfih

Whatever airspeed, attitude and power combo you want - if it takes pressure to hold it, trim off the pressure but you still have to fly it.