advantage to trimming?

[rlincoln]

I have a problem understanding the basics of trimming AS APPLIED IN AH.  Some people here say trimming makes your plane more "efficient", some say it just relieves pressure on the stick.  Do you gain an advantage in performance by trimming your plane?  Can anyone answer the following...

Simple scenario - two identical planes flying straight and level at the same place, same altitude, same throttle, same e-state.  One is trimmed perfectly, one is out of trim.  Will the trimmed plane accelerate quicker or fly faster than the untrimmed plane?

[miko2d]

 When flying straight and level, a pilot of an untrimmed plane has to compensate with a stick/pedals*. That causes more pilot fatigue on prolonged flights.
 Also, while you may easily compensate for climb/roll, yaw is not as evident. Withour a real yaw indicator (piece of string attached to a stick in front of your windscreen) you may be flying a bit sidewise (slipping). That will cause unnecessary drag and cost you speed/endurance.

 In combat, if you plane is trimmed for, say, 300mph, and you happen to be shooting at the enemy while flying straight at that speed, you will have easier time aiming because you will not have to keep your plane straight.

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* In real life stick in a trimmed plane was still off-center - trim did not center the stick, just removed the pressure.

[LJKkratz]

these aren't the basics of trimming in AH... these are the basics of trimming...


...hmmmmm...

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LJK Kratzer
Geschwader Kommodore, LuftJägerKorps

www.luftjagerkorps.com

"You have a point. An idiotic one, but a point."

[Westy]

 This has been hashed about several times before. Here is a start.
 http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/Forum1/HTML/005088.html


 If you'ld like to know more do a ubb search and select trim as the word to search for and user ID as HiTech.

   -Westy

[Apache]

<S> rlincoln.
Don't know if this answers your question or not but in AH, if you get into a compression state and can not pull out, you can trim out. I am not a RL pilot so I don't know if that should actually occur but it does here.

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Apache
=XO= VMF-323 Death Rattlers
VMF 323 Death Rattlers Web Site

[juzz]

In the scenario you outlined; both planes will perform identically, because to fly the same path the control surfaces must be in the same position on both planes. All trim really does is change the stick position in relation to the control surface position.


However the pilot of the "trimmed" plane probably thinks his plane will go better.  

[Andy Bush]

Juzz

Half right, half not-so-right!

There are all kinds of trim set-ups...many of which are well beyond the scope of this thread.

For the purpose of AH, it's better said that stick position is not affected by trim input. Only the amount of pilot-induced force needed to position the stick into a given position is affected.

In classic cable actuated control systems, the stick moves with the flight control surface. The pilot uses a certain amount of force to move the stick. The trim function is designed to lessen that force. The stick movement is unaffected by the trim input.

Now, before some people go screaming into the night (!), I mean that to be a general statement about the relationship of trim to control input in this sim. That statement may not be applicable to all trim arrangements, but it works well to explain the trim set-up in AH.

Andy