That was very useful, I am only now beginning seriously getting into flying and X-Plane 11. I have an Logitech Attack 3 Joystick and not only was I able to get up and down trim working, I was also able to get left and right trim working on the joystick as well, and realised you indirectly gave me the idea. What a joy to have both sets of trim working, love it. Now able to stabilise the plane and trim up and down and left and right. Thanks again, I have subscribed.
Probably the best video I've seen( so far) on how to trim a general aviation airplane. Thanks for sharing. You seem to be having some problem with your joy stick keeping the wings level .
In a real airplane, are you able to tell that you're fully trimmed by the relief of pressure on the yoke? (unlike here, where he repeatedly tests the trim by letting go and "seeing what happens")?
Thank you very much for these tutorials. I'm brushing up after a 45 year absence from flying. You explain things extremely well. Now, I need to buy a flight sim!
This program is X-Plane 9 (current version is X-plane 10). You can buy and download it online. Almost any joystick will do; I recently bought the thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X and I really like it. The only thing with the joystick is to make sure it has the twist grip for the Z-axis (rudder axis).
thank you very much , your videos are very good and helpful , I just wondering where can I get all this tools and programs top install in my computer , thanks again.
Hi, I'm using controller + keyboard + mouse. Soon getting a joystick, but whenever I try to set Pitch Trim during climb, the trim wheel doesn't move; thus no elevator trim. Any fix?
Quick question, i was flying a cessna 310r in fsx steam. The cruise speed (based on what came with the addon) is supposed to be 200 kias. I was only getting 145 kias @ 15,500 ft. My manifold pressure was at about 15.5, mixture was 30% and props were at 2500 rpm. I had ap engaged with altitude hold engaged and my crosswind correction came out to be roughly 1 1/2 degrees every 130-140 nm or so. My gound speed as indicated by my gps showed 190 mph, which would suggest to me it was a rear quartering tailwind as opposed to a forward quartering headwind. What was i doing wrong? As my performance specs on this plane are limited i have no information on its optimal cruise altitude, (i had the same performance at 11,500 ft as i did at 15,500 ft with the same engine settings) so im not sure why im not getting my cruise speed of 200 kias.
A couple of things off the top of my head: first, I would guess that the advertised speed of 200 KTS is TRUE airspeed, not INDICATED airspeed. 145 kts indicated at 15,500 feet, depending on outside air temperature, will be right around 195-200 kts. The only other thing I can think of is that, 15 inches of MP seems pretty low; by the time you get to 15,500 feet, you should be at full power (unless it's turbocharged, in which case you may not need full power). Hope this helps!
Is that a laptop? What pc do i need for xplane10 or 11 can I use my laptop? I am starting ppl next summer need a bit of practicing . And shall I get the yoke and throttle to practice better Thanks
most laptops will handle Xplane; you'll just have to adjust the graphics quality to make sure it runs smooth. X-plane can work on a simple computer fine, but will even be too much for a gaming computer if you ratchet everything up to the highest graphics settings. (Same thing with Microsoft FSX). I would recommend a yoke that has a separate throttle quadrant like the T-Flight HOTAS X ($50 on amazon)
How do you properly trim an aircraft that only has digital trim, with no finer analog input? For example I fly in DCS a lot and the A10C seems to have a digital trim with discrete steps. As result I can never seem to get a proper straight level trim. The aircraft always wants to be climbing or descending ever so slightly. What am I doing wrong?
I haven't played DCS, so I guess my main question is: does it have more than 1 option for assigning pitch trim? For an example, in some flight simulators, you can assign 1 button to "throttle 1/2" for instance. Or you can assign that same button to "throttle - increase", in which case holding the button slowly increases the throttle, until you let go of the button. Maybe there's a similar option?
Hey, i have a quick question. When i fly downloaded planes (not addons softwares) the pitch is always up. For example, I put on autopilot, I'm cruising and then the pitch just goes up and i almost stall, when i put the pitch down it will go down for about 5 seconds and then just go up again with a higher pitch, Please help.
a couple of guesses; first off, many autopilots do NOT control the throttle/thrust. Therefore, if you command the autopilot into a climb, if you don't add power it will end up stalling. Second guess; you have something set incorrectly when you turn on the autopilot. Every autopilot has vertical and lateral modes (ie, heading mode, vertical speed mode, etc). If you turn on the autopilot and the altitude is selected at a higher altitude, and you also have vertical speed mode selected, it may be trying to climb at a vertical speed that is too much for that aircraft. If this doesn't help, send me a video of what's happening and I'll try and help you out :)
I would check your autopilot and trim settings. When your autopilot is on make sure it says 'alt' not 'vs'. If you are in 'alt' mode but have set your 'vs' mode to too high a value you will wildly pitch up 80-90 degrees and stall. Generally speaking i dont set my vs rate to more than 1000 fpm, exceptions being of course jets which can have a higher climb rate but for that you should refer to the manual. If you are hand flying and getting wild uncommanded pitch inputs then you could be out of balance in which case no amount of trim and control inputs will save the aircraft unless you get very lucky.
One other thought i used to make the mistake of turning on both alt and vs modes on the autopilot during preflight thinking that i had to have a vs value for climb. But that is wrong and will cause wild pitch up. Instead configure your autopilot so the alt key is lit up and dial in your desired altitude. The autopilot will automatically pitch the plane into its best angle of climb at full power. You could set your throttle for cruise climb but i usually maintain full power until i complete my climb to cruising altitude.
Hey Barry, great question! There are 4 "left turning tendencies" that airplanes exhibit. (I'll have to make a lesson on them later). Do a search for "P-factor", as that's the one that causes the most problems when climbing . Hope this helps!
everytime I switch on my autopilot master switch ( CMD A ) my plane begins to tumble out of control...can someone list the exact steps for activating simple autopilot straight and level flight...thanks
Whats the exact plane you're flying? You need to set speed, heading and altitude and activate hold buttons for these three before switching autopilot on. Then you'll have a straight smooth auto pilot flight. Auto pilot doesn't fly the plane in your place, it just holds and adjustes to some parameters you've already set.
Great video, very informative! I have to say the sound of the engine gets really, really annoying very quickly when you're trying to listen to someone talk.
+Adam Lloyd Pitch is simply the angle between you and the horizon. Think of it as either driving on a level road (level flight), driving up a hill (pitch up), or down a hill (pitch down). In an airplane, we control this with the yoke (or joystick in flight sim). Pulling back on the joystick will pitch the aircraft up, and pushing forward on the joystick will pitch the aircraft down. Pitch trim is simply adjusting the controls so you don't have to constantly hold the joystick forward or backward. Hope this helps!
U MEAN IF I WANT TO KEEP PITCH UP 10 DEG (CONSTANTLY), THEN I HAVE TO PULL THE YOKE BACKWARD TILL IT SHOWS 10 UP ON THE ATTITUDE GUAGE & PRESS THE BUTTON - ON THE TIP OF THE YOKE-DOWN & IT WILL MAINTAIN 10 DEG. PITCH UP, EVEN IF THE YOKE IS IN THE NUTRAL POSITION????i
Exactly! The whole idea is that you don't want to constantly be having to hold the yoke in any position. 90% of the time when you're flying the yoke should be in the neutral position. With the pitch trim you will have to assign the buttons to the joystick that you want to use for it, then hold the button for as long as it takes to trim off the pressure
Thank you very much for your lessons. Is there flight simulator website that you can point me to? Website simulation makes it easier to access and practice from any location. Love all your classes, thanks for your time. Do you have a paid subscription for flight training classes? Wish you have a flight school in Oakland county, MI. Will sign up instantly.
Hey Joy, thanks for reaching out! using flight simulator definitely helps with real-world training; my website and youtube channel is a (painfully) slow work in progress, and I'm working toward offering more paid content in addition to the free videos that I will keep posting.
