Okay, let's see if we can put the trim issue to rest. Be warned, this is a long excerpt from the Aces High Help page...
This piece was written by Hitech to explain combat trim in Aces High.
The first thing to understand about trim is that there is no way possible to make it work like a real plane. The joystick interaction with the controls is a completely different mechanical setup.
In a real plane you would be holding the stick back to maintain level flight. You would then turn the trim knob to relieve any pressure on the stick, without the stick moving. With a computer joystick, this simply isn't possible. When you let go of the stick it will always go back to center. Even force feedback sticks do not have the ability of adjusting stick spring center.
The second problem is stick feel. When Pyro and I originally did some early models for CK we tried setting real settings for elevator deflection. For example, the spit's stick setup is capable of generating about 38 degress AOA, and the plane stalls at around 17 degs AOA. This would equate to pulling the stick less than halfway back and that would stall the plane.
Now from a purely mathematical realistic point of view, that’s the way the plane was set up so it should be the same in the sim. But if you step back and look at things another way, what did the plane feel like to fly and does it "FEEL" realistic when things change? When flying a real aircraft I sense very little stick movement. I perceive much more on how hard I'm pulling, how much I'm grunting, how much the stick is vibrating, than how much I’m moving the stick.
To accomplish some of this we use the stall horn, now the stall horn is NOT realistic by any means, but some method is needed to give you the same realistic feed back from the plane that you get in real life. Therefore, you are forced to choose a method that works and gives the perception of reality. We chose to setup controls that will let you stall with full stick deflection unless you are limited by control force.
Now comes the trim problem. At slower speeds, where do you scale the stick movement from and how do you add in trim?
The method we have been using was to always give you x degrees of elevator travel than just add that degree to the current trim degree. This leads to problems if you are slow with nose down trim, you could no longer pull the plane to the edge of stall. This isn't how real planes fly in the slower flight envelope. Very few planes could you not generate enough stick force to pull into stall at slower speeds. This oversight is why people use trim in a slower turn fight and hence get an advantage by giving more up trim at slower speeds.
Under 1.04 we have change the control setup slightly. We now scale the elevator/stick deflection to the same ending angle no matter where the trim tab is positioned.
There is another misconception that trimming your plane perfectly gives you a flight advantage. Trimming your plane or just holding controls and pressing rudder to center the ball is exactly the same thing, and the plane will fly the same under both methods.
Now on to how the combat trim works. The best way to describe how it works is to take your plane and trim it constantly in a dive from slow speed to high speed. Now make a table of trim positions at all speeds. All the combat trim system does is use this table to set the trims based on your speed. Everything else still functions the same; you pull back on the stick you still get adverse yaw, you turn you still will need to add in rudder. You change throttle settings the plane still rolls due to torque. Add flaps trim settings will be completely different and the system won't account for it. Drop gear you will again be out of trim. If you’re climbing or diving your plane is still out of trim. In the end, all the combat trim system does is keep you in a trim envelope that you can override with normal controls.
