With combat trim selected, how long does it stay in effect?
Thanks to all replies...
Combat trim sets your approximate trim setting for your speed. You can "improve it" with the auto pilot modes.
The auto pilot light changes color to tell you which mode you're in.
Mapping a hat to the autopilot modes and combat trim makes it easy to use what you need.
The issue with combat trim is that during a dogfight you generally don't want to be trimmed slower than cruising speed or you can have trouble pushing your nose down. Any flight slower than cruising speed is a good time to have combat trim off, but different people have different preferences. I like to trim for max level speed. This makes the nose a little heavy as I slow down.
If you have a sloppy center in your joystick trimming nose down can help by letting you avoid the center position when making fine adjustments to pitch. Trimming nose down can make it harder to pull up so don't over do it.
Let me know if you need help with anything.