Help on stabilizing the trim in A-10

[shackman]

Whenever I am flying I'm always fighting the aircraft for trim. It wants to go up but I move it down and vice versa. ANd when I try to use a Maverick it is that much harder cause I have to fight to stabilize just to see the scope. How do you stabilize the trim so its level?

 

And with the autopilot when I hit A the planes takes over total control when i just want it to fly the heading I was and keep this altitude, but it goes into a huge turn to adjust to the waypoints. And when I take it out of AP it then is unstable either banking hard right or hard left. How do you fix this.

[GGTharos]

By flying a constant speed.

 

And stop using the AP ;)

 

Whenever I am flying I'm always fighting the aircraft for trim. It wants to go up but I move it down and vice versa. ANd when I try to use a Maverick it is that much harder cause I have to fight to stabilize just to see the scope. How do you stabilize the trim so its level

[shackman]

By flying a constant speed.

 

And stop using the AP ;)

Oh believe me I never use the AP it gets the plane unbalance or something. But how would you suggest flying a constant speed when having to pull g turns to come back around for a strafing pass? I mean all I need is a button that'll keep this speed and get me to the target and back when at the target i can take over. is there an AP throttle or something similar?

[GGTharos]

By managing your throttle and planning your turns ... you can also use flaps and airbrakes to help keep your speed more or less constant in a dive.

[Exorcet]

I don't know what stick you're using, but when I switched the trim command from the X52's 4 way stick hat to a continuous rotator on the throttle, it became much easier to get the plane to fly exactly how I wanted it. I could even fly without touching the stick.

[shackman]

By managing your throttle and planning your turns ... you can also use flaps and airbrakes to help keep your speed more or less constant in a dive.

But even when i did try managing the throttle the plane became a little more level but not by much I trimmed it but then it started to dive unexpectedly.:huh:

 

Right now I'm flying with a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, with throttle.

 

I hope DCS A-10C won't be like that. IT'll have an auto trim hopefully do we know?

[GGTharos]

No real A-10 has autotrim of any sort. It's your flying technique.

Naturally, there are issues with translating real life trim to in-game trim because of the physical difference in how the controls work, but it isn't a huge deal (well, not for me).

 

Just practice until you work out a turn-around technique which will allow you to bring the speed back up to what you had it trimmed for on the first pass; do it until you can do it in your sleep.

[andyfoot]

One thing I've noticed, is that if you are in A2G mode, point yourself in the direction you want to head and engage Autopilot. It will stabalise your heading, altitude and trim. Another way to sort your trim out, is to engage Altitude Hold, then disengage it again once stable. The thing with Trimming is that if anything changes, you have to trim. Be it using weapons, changing speed, adjusting for wind or losing an engine.

[Steel Jaw]

Flying my auto trimming F16 has mae me lazy. Yes, the Hog needs constant trimming. But it forces you to pay close attention.

[GGTharos]

Bad technique. It will get you nowhere very fast in A-10C. Do NOT use. Learn to trim ;)

 

One thing I've noticed, is that if you are in A2G mode, point yourself in the direction you want to head and engage Autopilot. It will stabalise your heading, altitude and trim. Another way to sort your trim out, is to engage Altitude Hold, then disengage it again once stable. The thing with Trimming is that if anything changes, you have to trim. Be it using weapons, changing speed, adjusting for wind or losing an engine.

[shackman]

Does A-10C just do the same and make you keep a constant speed? Or has it changed?

 

And how would you suggest keeping the trim stabilized? I mean when I try to engage altitude hold by pressing A then 6 +ALT the the whole AP engages. For altitude hold do you just need to hit 6+Alt and not a? maybe i've been hitting the wrong buttons. would altitude hold work for trim tharos?

[GGTharos]

Does A-10C just do the same and make you keep a constant speed? Or has it changed?

 

All aircraft do this in RL. Some will trim automatically, but they are few right now.

This happens because the center of lift moves as airspeed changes, so as you accelerate past your trimmed airspeed, you'll get pitch up, if you slow down from your trimmed airspeed, you'll get pitch down.

 

And how would you suggest keeping the trim stabilized? I mean when I try to engage altitude hold by pressing A then 6 +ALT the the whole AP engages. For altitude hold do you just need to hit 6+Alt and not a? maybe i've been hitting the wrong buttons. would altitude hold work for trim tharos?

 

No. Autopilot is a crutch. Learn to do it the right way.

[mvsgas]

Flying my auto trimming F16 has mae me lazy. Yes, the Hog needs constant trimming. But it forces you to pay close attention.

F-16 is not auto trim, that is a miss conception. FLCS/DFLCS will attempt to maintain 1 g I know, but you can roll all the way inverted and hit the ground at 1 g. The only auto trim is done on the rudder during turns or when the gun fires, is not trim persay, more like the rudder will compensate, anyway.

PS

Or are you referring to the fuel auto trim?

 

shackman;

You should not need to trim the A-10 that much, do you just fly with the throttle on one setting or do you adjust it to maintain a certain speed?

Edited September 24, 2010 by mvsgas

[GhostDog]

Have you tried adjusting the input curve for your joystick in the axis tune panel? Part of the problem could be that your joystick settings are too "touchy" and you're having to fight against excessive input from small movements. And GG is right, don't rely on alt hold or autopilot. Practice the fundamentals.

[Sarge55]

Adjust your axis tune so you can make finer adjustments to the trim. I have mine set a 20 and "for me" it makes trimming the A-10 quite easy and as the A/C flight charateristics change just a slight adjustment gets me trimmed again.

 

Ghost Dog is faster.

[andyfoot]

Bad technique. It will get you nowhere very fast in A-10C. Do NOT use. Learn to trim ;)

 

Didn't mean I use this, it is just something I've noticed. I trim pretty much constantly and accept it as the norm.

 

Did some RL gliding a couple of years back, my instructor says to me "your flying with Prince Charles, you barrel roll and end up inverted, but Prince Charles isn't strapped in, what do you do?"

 

"Trim"

[shackman]

Have you tried adjusting the input curve for your joystick in the axis tune panel? Part of the problem could be that your joystick settings are too "touchy" and you're having to fight against excessive input from small movements. And GG is right, don't rely on alt hold or autopilot. Practice the fundamentals.

And when you say adjust the axis which one pitch roll or yaw? And what would the fundamentals be exactly to know how to trim other than hitting the up and down arrows?

[GhostDog]

And when you say adjust the axis which one pitch roll or yaw? And what would the fundamentals be exactly to know how to trim other than hitting the up and down arrows?

 

:huh:

 

1. Yaw wouldn't have much to do with maintaining straight and level flight.

 

2. It wouldn't make much sense to adjust the curve for pitch without adjusting the curve for roll.

 

3. Trimming can be done with the keyboard, or with the trim wheel on your joystick, if it has one. If you adjust the curve for pitch and roll, it affects your trim wheel as well.

 

4. The fundamentals would be practicing using throttle, stick pressure and trim to maintain straight and level flight at a constant speed. It's not an easy skill.

[shackman]

:huh:

 

1. Yaw wouldn't have much to do with maintaining straight and level flight.

 

2. It wouldn't make much sense to adjust the curve for pitch without adjusting the curve for roll.

 

3. Trimming can be done with the keyboard, or with the trim wheel on your joystick, if it has one. If you adjust the curve for pitch and roll, it affects your trim wheel as well.

 

4. The fundamentals would be practicing using throttle, stick pressure and trim to maintain straight and level flight at a constant speed. It's not an easy skill.

Well since I don't have a trim wheel, it seems either adjusting the pitch of the joystick or just getting used to using the keyboard and trying to control the airspeed are the answers.

 

but how much to adjust the pitch and which side the left or right of the curve?

[GhostDog]

Well since I don't have a trim wheel, it seems either adjusting the pitch of the joystick or just getting used to using the keyboard and trying to control the airspeed are the answers.

 

but how much to adjust the pitch and which side the left or right of the curve?

 

Depends on your joystick. I have my curve at 10 for both pitch and roll, and I find that dampens the response just enough to make my turns and climbs smooth and trimming more precise. I don't edit the user curve, I use the curvature setting.

Edited September 25, 2010 by GhostDog

[shackman]

Depends on your joystick. I have my curve at 10 for both pitch and roll, and I find that dampens the response just enough to make my turns and climbs smooth and trimming more precise.

When you say you have your stick set to 10 which part the deadzone saturation x or y or what part should i set to 10?

[GhostDog]

When you say you have your stick set to 10 which part the deadzone saturation x or y or what part should i set to 10?

 

The curvature setting for the x axis and the y axis.

[shackman]

The curvature setting for the x axis and the y axis.

thanks GhostDog that really helped. i set my pitch curvature to 25 and roll to 25, and now when pulling a hard turn the AOA warning doesn't come on as frequently. So thanks that helped with the trim also she was a lot more stable that time.;)

Edited September 25, 2010 by shackman

[aaron886]

:huh:

2. It wouldn't make much sense to adjust the curve for pitch without adjusting the curve for roll.

 

 

Not at all true. My pitch curve used to be very different from my roll curve before switching to my current (center) stick. (No curve needed.) It's a matter of preference. I had a larger pitch curve value, especially to help reduce pitch oscillations in formation flying. There's no "right way" to do it, since in real life there's no such thing as "curve," obviously. The difference is, R/L controls tend to have larger throw and operate on a longer arm. It makes curve obsolete. (As I found when I built my center stick!)

 

(Unless we're talking about a sidestick, then you're SOL. I can't stand sidesticks.:joystick:)

[GhostDog]

Not at all true. My pitch curve used to be very different from my roll curve before switching to my current (center) stick. (No curve needed.) It's a matter of preference. I had a larger pitch curve value, especially to help reduce pitch oscillations in formation flying. There's no "right way" to do it, since in real life there's no such thing as "curve," obviously. The difference is, R/L controls tend to have larger throw and operate on a longer arm. It makes curve obsolete. (As I found when I built my center stick!)

 

(Unless we're talking about a sidestick, then you're SOL. I can't stand sidesticks.:joystick:)

 

I wasn't saying they necessarily had to be the same, just that I don't imagine adjusting one without adjusting the other. But, as you say, it's a matter of preference.