Trimming troubles

[Kang]

I'm having some trouble using the trim in the F/A-18C and I'm not sure if it's something I'm doing wrong or something else.

 

Sometimes it just seems that trimming nose-up and nose-down just doesn't do anything at all. Now, I know it's one of these all-new digital thingymajigs that's setting the FCS to hold certain values, but shouldn't, say, on the ground the trim simply move the control surfaces with zero force on the stick?

I use a keyboard bind for trimming (like a caveman), but I'm sure it's bound correctly and not conflicting. But for example trying to trim nose-up for a heavy carrier launch, I can't observe anything happening. The surfaces don't seem to move, the FCS page shows them steadily at 12°.

It gets even worse when I do have a nose-up trim because then I might not be able to set it back down and pretty much wrestle with the FCS to stay in reasonably level flight.

 

Just to make it even more mysterious, as hinted at with that last thing, sometimes it just works as I'd expect it to work.

 

This leads to a set of questions:

Has anyone else experienced a similar issue?

Am I overlooking an obvious condition I have to meet to trim? (And apparently sometimes meet by accident.)

[fitness88]

I'm assuming you use a HOTAS. You said you checked that the trimming commands are not in-game DCS mapped to your stick and as well you are using keyboard, so there is no conflict, I'd double check. Do you use mapping software?

Then I would try mapping direct though DCS only to a 4-way switch and see if that works on demand.

Edited April 30, 2019 by fitness88

[Moafuleum]

Does it happen when you do a cold start? When you do a cold start, do you go through the FCS BIT routine? Do you reset the FCS with the button on the left console? You say the FPS page reads 12° constantly, did you set it by pressing the T/O trim button?

[Harker]

I'm not able to to check right now, but doesn't the Hornet only hold pitch trim with flaps deployed? Might worth checking out, lower flaps and try trimming again.

[fitness88]

In addition to what Moafuleum mentioned try moving flaps to Auto, this should reset trim. Harker is that what you were referring to when you said deployed or did you mean not deployed?

Edited April 30, 2019 by fitness88

[smallberries]

Also, did it stop working after the patch, and you have been un-bound?

[Mule]

I had the same problem.

 

Do you use a modifier in your keybinds? I found that the modifier I was using remained "on" and all I had to do was press the modifier to take it out of it's intended mode.

 

I hope that makes sense. Trimming was driving me nuts because it felt random I couldn't pin it down.

 

It was a relief, to say the least when I found it was my modifier.

 

Hope this helps.

[Kang]

Thank you for your replies!

 

I think I've had this issue a while ago as well, so I don't believe it to be related to a recent patch. Also, none of my keybindings have reset. They're all set in DCS directly, not conflicting and the keypress seems to be recognised.

 

To stick with the example of take-off trim, here's what I do:

- Start up (I'm omitting the non-related stuff for now)

- Push the FCS reset button

- Push the T/O trim button

- Run the FCS BIT by pulling the FCS BIT lever and pushing the 'Test all' button on the FCS sub-page of the BIT page on the DDI

- Set flaps to half

- Trim, well, try to

 

Is the order in which these things happen critical? Do I need to run the BIT earlier? Do I need to reset again?

 

I had the same problem.

 

Do you use a modifier in your keybinds? I found that the modifier I was using remained "on" and all I had to do was press the modifier to take it out of it's intended mode.

 

I hope that makes sense. Trimming was driving me nuts because it felt random I couldn't pin it down.

 

It was a relief, to say the least when I found it was my modifier.

 

Hope this helps.

I actually do. I'll see if I can try that out somehow.

[Moafuleum]

You can actually hit the reset button as often as you like, you don't break anything or reset anything to a state where something doesn't work anymore. The reset button only sets the FCS into a state where everything should work as intended. In caseyou have any doubts, press it like a madman

[Kang]

Since the problem didn't really show up reliably I'm not perfectly sure, but I haven't had any troubles with it in a while now. I believe it might have been the issue about a keyboard modifier 'getting stuck' at times somehow, as Mule described. I now just tap it once in a while to prevent it from becoming a problem.

[zmann]

I wish I could figure out why this aircraft wont stop drifting up. Has to be some kind of bug nothing I try fixes it.