Porter PC-6 Elevator Trim

[tjstreak 53]

Oh where, oh where is the elevator trim wheel?

When I take off, the plane shoots up and is very hard to control.  Perhaps it's because I am not using any trim.  But I can't find the trim wheel.  It does not appear to be in the manual.  There don't appear to be any turorial videos.  Maybe if I trim it, it might work?

Does it even have a trim wheel?

[DrumsArt 270]

Hi,

On the PC-6 it's an electrical trim.

If it helps you, I can only advise you to read the P-6_Porter_User_Guide_P3D.pdf.
There is a panel overview on page 17 on which you will find the Trim Switch Panel.

Richard

[CaptTim 2]

On 7/2/2019 at 5:23 PM, tjstreak said:

Oh where, oh where is the elevator trim wheel?

When I take off, the plane shoots up and is very hard to control.  Perhaps it's because I am not using any trim.  But I can't find the trim wheel.  It does not appear to be in the manual.  There don't appear to be any turorial videos.  Maybe if I trim it, it might work?

Does it even have a trim wheel?

On 9/9/2020 at 8:03 PM, Humbler66 said:

 

1).  I programmed the hatswitch forward/backward on my Honeycomb Alpha throttle to be DOWN trim for hatswitch forward, UP trim for hatswitch backward.  that seems to be what's used in the virtual cockpit too.

2). .Maybe the problem with the elevator trim going whacky has to do with the Autopilot being switched on when you don't intend it to be!

Here's why I say that, because of what happened to me...

A few days ago, I bought and downloaded the MilViz / Blackbird Pilatus Porter PC-6 from the MSFS Marketplace {which is where I prefer to purchase my add-ons, simply because automatically MSFS will alert you in-game when an update is available i.e. a bit more convenient than an add-on purchased through a different channel}.  I had figured out the key bindings and how to set up the axes to control the power lever, the propeller lever, and the condition lever.  I was able to find a few more things, like where the tailwheel lock is located in the virtual cockpit, and I programmed a key on my yoke to toggle the tailwheel lock off and on.  Then I went through the pre-flight sequence.  So I was getting all set to go for my first flight in my MilViz Porter.  I started the engine and went on to do the other various steps of the checklist with the avionics on, plus a few additional avionics pre-sets that I typically do IRL to "stay ahead of the airplane."

At some point, I spotted that the stabilizer (elevator) trim position appeared to be moving on its own, so much so that eventually the TRIM (red) alarm showed up, and the trim kept going to its limit. in that direction.  I tried using the buttons I had programmed to command the manual electric trim to return the trim to a safe zone, but it wasn't effective in overcoming the problem...

Long story short:

The Autopilot (AP) got switched on unintentionally.  But why, is another question!

I turned the AP off, and then I was able to set the stablizer (elevator) trim to a proper setting for takeoff, and it held steady. 

Subsequently, I have noticed that if I do certain pre-settings in the AP i.e. on the ground, during pre-flight, while the AP is off, that somehow triggers the AP to switch on even though I don't touch either the hardware "AUTO PILOT" button (on my Honeycomb Bravo Throttle quadrant), nor did I click on the virtual cockpit "AP" button.  I know to watch out for that glitch now, so at least I overcame the problem of the stabilizer trim going awry.  It seems that pressing the BARO button in the virtual cockpit turns on the AP, and the Autopilot unit doesn't show the Altimeter setting.

Has anyone else spotted that problem with the Autopilot coming on spuriously?