I know this has been discussed before but I feel there is enough misunderstanding (from trying to help friends with this) of how manual trim works in Aces High that I can hopefully clear things up.
Lephturn's very excellent article in the Aces High II Training Corps web site entitled "Auto-Trim in Aces High" ONLY deals with what I refer to as "Button Trim." In fact, calling "button trim" "manual trim" is really confusing because that term implies that it is the only type. There is another manual trim system used by Aces High that is not addressed at all. I call this "Analog Trim." Analog trim is ABSOLUTELY NOT the same thing as Button trim; neither do they work the same way.
Here is a brief rundown on how Analog Trim works from my experience:
1. Terminology. Most people use the term "manual trim" to describe what I call "button" or "digital" trim. That makes the terminology very confusing. I suspect that is because very few actually use trim axes and don't realize how different that is from using Button Trim. Button Trim is the keyboard commands you issue to trim your controls. "Analog trim" is a term I use when there are potiometers involved (i.e. dials, wheels, knobs). That is, when you assign an AXIS for trim in the AH Controllers setup, then you are using Analog Trim rather than Button Trim. Therefore, "Manual Trim" is actually a generic term which denotes two methods of manual trim: "Button" and "Analog."
2. As soon as you set up Analog Trim within AH, the Button Trim commands begin to behave differently than they did before. For example, with no Analog Trim assigned, when you go into level autopilot (yellow light), you can press the left and right rudder trim keyboard commands to trim your rudder left and right. Each time you press a key, the rudder will trim in that direction one "notch." The rudder will stay at that offset until you move it back the other way with the opposite rudder trim key. When Analog Trim is assigned, the Button Trim keys no longer work this way. Instead, you have to HOLD the Button Trim key down until your plane yaws around to your desired heading and when you release the key, the rudder will recenter. Therefore, if you were to quickly press a rudder Button Trim key say five times, then nothing really will happen because the rudder will recenter after each press. You could sit there pressing the left rudder trim key 500 times and it would never yaw the plane. This is very confusing until you realize how Button Trim has changed when you turn on Analog Trim. I have not found anything written anywhere that describes this behavior. Trust me though, this is exactly how it works. I do it every night while flying.
3. Combat Trim no longer works the way it did before you go to Analog Trim. Without Analog Trim, you can enable CT and your plane will automatically trim up based on what CT "understands" needs to happen to trim your plane. As soon as you move a control surface or press a Button Trim command, CT will disable and leave your plane trimmed the way CT left it. When Analog Trim is configured however, CT will no longer disable when you move a control but if you hit a Button Trim command it will disable. Unlike Button trim however, rather than the trims staying where CT leaves them, they will move to where you have your Analog Trim wheels set. That means that you cannot use CT to get your trims set then switch it off to keep that trim setting the way you do with Button Trim. At best, you can look at where your trim setting indicators show your trims to be and then physically moving them there after CT disables. I have pretty much stopped using CT because it does not offer the convenience that it does when using Button trim. After getting used to keeping my plane in trim with my trim wheels, I can't say I miss CT at all. In fact, my control of my aircraft has never been better.
I'm not here trying to argue the merits of Analog trim versus Button trim though I personally much prefer analog (another topic all together). I just hope what I've described helps anyone who has chosen to go purely Analog trim and to help someone considering so understand the consequences. I have been running this way for about three months now and have removed my Combat Trim button from my hotas because I simply do not use it anymore.
So, from everything I've read, if you are planning to go Analog trim, what I've written here is the only place you will find any discussion of how it works. I would love to see this topic find its way into the vocabularly some where. If you can point me to doc on this that I have overlooked I'd appreciate knowing.
Thanks
-hb
