Expert: Paul Ruderham - 11/2/2009

Question
what is "center the trim"  on this clip mean?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuQ3UBZOh2c&feature=PlayList&p=BB5BB9DD08D82840&p...

Answer

Hi Again,

In the old analogue cockpits, (looks like this might have been a dc8) the trim was done manually. This trims the aircraft (like a fine tuning) to fly straight and level. They might have had it just set off the level to aid them so they had to set it to the neutral position to allow the aircraft to have perfect balance on landing otherwise the pilot would have been pushing or pulling on the controls depending on the trim to land the aircraft.

If the aircaft is perfectly trimmed it should fly hands off straight and level.

Today all this is done automatically with the autopilot.

Hope this helps

Regards
Paul