I have been blaming my last 3 sticks for operating rough. By that I mean as I try to hold my pipper on target I would constantly have to fight it. The nose of my plane would bounce around making it difficult to hit targets. When I say bounce around, I don't mean like a basketball but bouncing enough if you were trying to thread a needle, you would never get it threaded.
I was in the main arena trying out the Niki. I ran into a good pilot that stayed away from my cannons for at least 5 minutes or more. I was staying off the pedals because someone just told me that rudder use can really slow you down. Made sense when you think about it. So I was completely turning using the stick. Well after 5 minutes my hand and forearm were just cramping up. Really burning. I survived my encounter but had one stiff and soar hand/forearm to show for it.
I decided to try and read up on this theory of staying off the Rudder and went looking at the AH webpage. I stumbled onto a section about flying with and with out the use of Combat Trim.
I had to go try it ASAP! So back up in the Niki I went. I couldn't believe how much easier it was to fly the Niki without Combat Trim. I would compare it to this: We all know what driving a car is like with automatic steering. And many of us know what its like to drive a car with no steering fluid. It takes two hands to turn the steering wheel. LOL Its not that bad, but it makes for a good example. I could fly the Niki with just the stick and no problem. It makes flying effortlessly.
So what I'm doing now is I get to my destination on auto pilot or using set angle automatically. I might make adjustments at several places a long the way. But when I get to the place of action (enemy base) I shut off or cancel any trim. I fight the fight with Combat Trim off. This is all new to me so I will report back once I get more sorties under my belt. But first impression is I really really really LIKE IT!!!!
