User Guide

Flight Simulator
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Microsoft
climb rate. If you relax control pressure and the needle moves, then the airplane
needs trimming. Apply nose-up or nose-down trim as appropriate to stabilize
the airplane at the previous climb rate (or descent rate). It may take two or three
adjustments of trim to find a setting that works, but that’s okay. You’ve got the
time. It’s not as if you’re going anywhere, are you?
Also, keep in mind that it’s very difficult to trim an airplane perfectly. Even if
you’re a high priest or priestess of trim, an airplane can still wander up or down
a few hundred feet. There’s not much you can do about this outside of making
small manual pitch corrections. Airplanes are not all created equal. A little dent
here, a little extra weight there
these have a subtle effect on aerodynamic
performance which prevents an airplane from being perfectly trimmed.
Monitor Scanning
After the final trim adjustments are made, the six main panel instruments
(Figure 1) are monitor scanned. This is often done in a clockwise fashion, going
from the top row to the bottom row of instruments. Actually, you can select any
particular pattern of eye movement that is comfortable to you. The objective is to
monitor deviations from the established attitude. If you notice a deviation, make
a small adjustment on the attitude indicator to maintain the desired flight
conditions.
Monitor scanning is the
condition in which you’ll
spend most of your time
while on instruments. Step
three, therefore, is
performed continuously
until a new flight attitude is
desired (thus requiring a
major change in attitude).
All three steps of the scan
procedure are repeated
again when making this
major attitude change.
The first two steps of the three-step scan process typically take 5 to 15 seconds
to complete. There are instances where you’ve completed Step two of the scan
and might not be able to move on to Step three. For example, in turbulence, or
when you’re on an instrument approach, you may find yourself obliged to rapidly
radial scan the primary instruments to maintain precise control of the airplane.
Figure 1
Letting Go
There’s never any reason
to completely let go of
the controls to see which
way an out-of-trim
airplane moves. This
causes pilots more
heartaches than it’s
worth. And whatever you
do, don’t let go of the
controls while saying,
“Accept this sacrifice,
oh great lord of
darkness.”
Yikes! By
letting go of the
controls, instead of
easing off a little on
control pressures, an
untrimmed airplane could
rapidly deviate from the
planned flight attitude,
depending on just how out
of trim it was. Now you
must return the airplane
to its previous flight
condition before you re-
trim. It’s much easier to
relax the control
pressure, observe the
beginning of any VSI
needle movement, and make
a corresponding change in
the trim. Very small
adjustments in trim can
now be made without
having to recapture a
runaway airplane.