Pitch issues

[tongueless]

Hi, I am completely new to this game and flight sims in general so this is probably going to be a very silly question, but I'm not sure how else to proceed other than asking here, so here goes.

 

How do I control the pitch to keep the aircraft level? I seem to just gradually climb with the stick in neutral position untill I reach around 22k feet and it levels out itself.

 

Is this something I just have to manually deal with using the stick or is there something I'm doing wrong?

 

Also I'm sure this is a very basic question, if there are some must-read resources to help me understand things better than feel free to redirect me to those if needed.

[Jona33]

Trim the plane

[tongueless]

Using the pitch trim knob? I tried turning it both ways as far as it goes to no noticeable effect, I assume I'm doing something incorrect.

[Picksplitter]

okay, but you won't like it! Read and re-read the manual! It's a beast but all things related really are in there. Fly and re-fly all the training missions. Once you've finished a lesson, just fly yer butt off doing and learning the aircraft... (deaths don't count in the training missions!)

 

To your question... Trim, trim, trim.... page 491 in the manual... keyboard commands...

;RCtrl... Nose down

.RCtrl... nose up

,RCtrl... left wing down

/RCtrl... right wing down

and map these to your joystick 'cause you'll use them alot!

 

...practice this at all speeds and altitudes. Can't stress this enough... caused me months of grief until some kind souls gently pointed it out...

 

Good luck and welcome to (possibly) the hardest thing you've ever tried to master! It is worth every minute of the effort you'll have to invest.

Edited January 20, 2013 by Picksplitter

[dave4002000]

You need to use the trim hat on the joystick. Bind the commands to your joystick. The must-read resource you're looking for is the manual that installed with the sim. Read a little bit, go practice in the sim, read a little more, go practice, etc...

[Jona33]

Rcontrol+; , . / are the keyboard controls

[tongueless]

Alright I'll get started on the manual then, thanks for the recommendations gentlemen.

[HugePanic]

generally speaking:

 

there is power and there is drag

 

there is weight and there is lift

 

If all these are balanced right, you should be in an not-accelerated flight at an desired altituted and speed.

 

there is an an flight envelope that tells you what the aircraft is capable to.

for example.

 

If you trimm your your loaded aircraft for 200kts at 10000feet.

then press the emergency jettison button.

 

you will decrease both weight and drag. your airplane will climb and go faster.

if you just push the stick forward, you can maintain height, but will accelertate forward even more.

to keep level and speed you always have to bring all these to balance.

[Yurgon]

The manual is definitely a mighty important resource.

 

But if you want just a short overview of what trim is and how it works, checking out

will give you a nice introduction to the topic. :)

 

(Unfortunately, it seems he never made part 2 of the video, or I'm too dumb to find it).

 

Feel free to wander off and watch some of the other tutorials. I find that ExcessiveHeadspace's tutorials are always great, but there are other community members with equally valuable videos and explanations.

[Maachine]

just another hint, get on youtube and watch each training mission before you do it. for some reason watching a video of someone else doing it made it much easier for me to understand when i did it. eagle dynamics made a video of every training mission. they were very helpful

[tongueless]

Thanks for the tips guys, though the sticky with the manual download seems to be out of date as the manual can't be found on the mirror, anyone have an updated download perhaps?

[Maachine]

there should be a manual with the installation of the game

[FreeFall]

You can download the "latest official" manual (dated 8/27/12) from here:

http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/downloads/documentation/dcs_a-10c_flight_manual_en/

[tongueless]

I installed through steam so I'm not sure where I'd find the manual if it was included, steam can be fussy sometimes. Thanks FreeFall, sorry I seemed to lack the initiative to check the website, as far as games on the computer go I tend to usually think the answer is a lot more complex than just, 'download it from their website'.

Wish me luck gents.

[FreeFall]

Don't miss the GUI Manual and Quickstart Guide, they are available as well:

http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/downloads/documentation/

[The LT]

I've learned the hard way that learning to trim the aircraft is one of the most essential skills you must master in order to fly. :)

[FreeFall]

With A-10C you have to trim all the time, if you don't want to unnecessarily strain the wrist of you joystick hand. Very soon you'll trim automatically/unconsciously without even paying attention to it.

[Rubberduck]

Also make sure that FFB is not enabled in the options, think it screws with the trimming i.e. it won't work.