Trim question

[redrooster]

I was looking at the in-game manual and for take off it said I needed 4 degrees nose heavy trim(D) and 7 degrees tail heavy trim(H). What does this mean? Is nose heavy nose up attitude and tail heavy nose down attitude? Correct me if I stated the wrong settings.

Thanks for any help,
redrooster

[dbr_p]

I'm confused too.

Most sources I read speak about "nose up trim" and "nose down trim".

Not sure what they mean with "nose heavy trim".
It could be either:
- trim to apply when the nose is heavy (nose up trim)
OR
- trim to apply to make the nose heavy (nose down trim)

If the tail is heavy then you will have to keep forward pressure on the stick to maintain your attitude.
To take away this pressure, you 'll have to apply nose down trim by turning the trimwheel in forward direction.

This leaves your question unanswered still.
But there is a way to find out yourself.
That is exactly what test pilots do.

Try a take off with neutral trim and check yourself during the initial climb.
(Make sure you fly by the book at advised power setting and airspeed)

Do you have to keep pulling at the stick to maintain attitude (and airspeed)?
Apply nose up trim before your next take off (turning the trimwheel backwards) and your take off will be much easier on the controls.
The correct trim setting for take off will be the one which gives no pressure on the stick during initial climb.

Do you have to keep pushing the stick away from you constantly?
Nose down trim will take the pressure away.

Any real life pilots here please comment.

PJD

[redrooster]

Thanks

redrooster

[Bradburger]

Well, I've always taken it to be the following:

Nose Heavy Trim = Apply Nose Up Trim (Trim Back)

Tail Heavy Trim = Apply Nose Down Trim (Trim Forward)

I think in all the RAF pilots notes I have they don't usually mention the word trim, just say 'Nose Heavy' or 'Tail Heavy'.

Cheers

Paul

[BellCobraIV]

If you look close at the elevator trim wheel you will see that is marked "NH" and "TH". this stands for Nose Heavy, and Tail Heavy. Look closely at what knobs you are flipping. don't just flip the shiny ones. LOL. Hope this helps.

[SD_Research]

Hi All!

Nose Heavy = Nose Down
Tail Heavy = Tail Down

Think of it like this: "Nose Heavy" trim means you move the trim wheel in the direction that makes the nose feel "heavy", so you would need to apply back pressure to the stick to compensate. "Tail Heavy" means just the opposite.

Another way to visualize this is that the checklist wants you to add four degrees "tail heavy" trim when the rear fuselage tank is NOT full for takeoff. The full tank would make the tail heavy, but since it is empty, you must dial in "tail down", or "tail heavy", trim to compensate. This is of course the same thing as "nose up" trim. If it's heavy, that means it wants to go down. The words "heavy" and "down" are interchangeable here.

[redrooster]

Ah, thanks for the answer SD_Research

redrooster