Trim Trouble

[fredp4rrot]

I'm looking for some advice guys, to what may seem like a dumb question.....

I have just started training in a Seminole for my MEL rating, after doing my PPL and IR in a C152. Obviously these are vastly different aircraft in terms of the way they fly/handle, but I just can't get to grips with trimming it out properly. I am constantly getting berated by my instructor for gaining or losing 100ft within what seems like a matter of seconds. I guess that there is so much more going on and I am not concentrating enough on my altitude, but I adjust the trim to a setting that I think has fixed the pitch, glance away for a few seconds and sure enough, the altitudes starting to run away again..... Does anyone have any ideas on this? I guess it will come to me eventually.

Welcome to the world of complex aircraft.......

 

[Mmmmmm Burritos]

Yeah, don't forget you're still flying the plane, don't try to trim it for every situation. Get it in the ballpark and leave it. You're training anyway, you won't be doing the same thing for more than 5 min. Trim is for cross-countries

Seriously, fly the plane and practice with the trim on the way out to the practice area. Remember, YOU are paying the instructor so if you want to work on basic aircraft handling and trimming, you tell him what you want to do.

A 152 to a Seminole is a big step! Hopefully you don't have an instructor that demands all the stalls, slow flight and steep turns to perfection on your first Seminole flight!

Is it electric trim? If so just use a little bit at a time since you can't "feel" it as well as a manual trim wheel.

 

[Dutch]

When I first started teaching in the PA44 I was amazed at the trouble my students were having with trimming the aircraft. I eventually took away the electric trim from one and he seemed to relax. I don't know your circumstance but he was trying to wear out the switch by flying the trim. I had to remind him that trim was there to relieve pressure not fly the aircraft. Another possiblilty is that you are just saturated with all the new "stuff", i.e. props, mp guages, etc and you just need time to get used to the aircraft. Oh yeah, try using the electric trim to get you in the ballpark and "fine tuning" by hand with the wheel.

 

[Goose Egg]

...I am constantly getting berated by my instructor for gaining or losing 100ft within what seems like a matter of seconds.

Berated? I'm sure that's got to be at least part of the problem.

-Goose

 

[fredp4rrot]

Thanks for the replies guys!

I flew it for 2.5 hrs this afternoon practicing circuits and stalls etc. I felt a bit better with it today, still not perfect by a long way but the more I flew it, the more comfortable I felt with it.......That was until I put the hood on, which really threw me at first !!! I think I am just overwhelmed with the amount of work compared to what I am used to with the Cessna. Maybe I should have got some time in the Arrow first...

The electric trim and autopilot have been deactivated and the aircraft is a bit of a 1970's dog.

I have to say that my instructor is top class and I actually requested him as he is arguably the best one at the school with the most experience. He is very fair, but firm with it. So maybe I shouldn't have brought him into this......

 

[Goose Egg]

I have to say that my instructor is top class and I actually requested him as he is arguably the best one at the school with the most experience. He is very fair, but firm with it. So maybe I shouldn't have brought him into this......

That's cool, but keep an eye on it. The experienced guys can be the most grumpy.

Anyway, good luck with getting "up to speed" (pun intended) on flying the Seminole. I can see how the transition would entail a pretty steep learning curve. A few more flights and you'll be on it.

I went from flying C-172s and Archers to flying a 1960 Mooney M20B. It had manually retracting landing gear and the throttle "rolled" (like a mixture in a Cessna). I had the hardest time getting the gear up and locked--I guess there's a trick to it but I never figured it out. And the airplane seemed like it would go uncoordintated at the slightest disturbance (or maybe that was just me.) And the instructor I was flying it in wasn't the best communicator, so I struggled. Thrown in some cowl flaps that I didn't know how to use, a non-standard panel, and you've got a recipe for a miserable flying experience. I got my complex sign-off, and then I never flew that airplane, or with that instructor, again. I moved over to the Arrow, and it was a joy to fly in comparison.

(Actually, the school sold it and then the new buyer crashed it a few weeks later.)

Anyway, just be glad you've got electro-hydraulic actuated gear on the PA44.

-Goose

 

[fredp4rrot]

Hey guys !!

Thanks for all of your advice. I started out today with a PPL/IR and finished it up with a CPL/Single/Multi/IR !! I did two checkrides back to back and am mentally and physically F****D.

I guess this is where the road really starts to get tough though......

Thanks again.....

 

[urflyingme?!]

Congrats amigo!

I noticed the same thing as you did with the trim when I started flying high performance and complex aircraft. Just make sure you got that trim dialed up and she'll be a swetheart to ya.

 

[Flechas]

Congrats man!

Fly safe!

 

[DrewBlows]

Congratulations! Two checkrides in the same day is very impressive.