They used to say there was no such thing as a stupid question in aviation, but here's my attempt:
I'm new to 121 flying and the Dornier Jet. The Dornier has no "manual" trim wheel, just an electric trim thumb control. (PS after seeing the B737 and B727 cabins, I kind of hoped that all big airplanes would have big manual trim wheels, but I guess Dornier wants to save money.)
Here's the deal - on climbout and hand flying the Dornier the captain asked me what I was doing with the pitch control of the airplane. Specifically he wanted to know what I was doing with the trim. I said I was pitching to a desired number, in this case 12 degrees nose up and then trimming to relieve the pressure off my hand. He then asked where I learnt to fly and then scolded me saying that I should be flying by making the trim lift the nose to the value.
I've never flown a plane with as much power as the Dornier - 12,000 lbs of thrust for a 34,000lb airplane. I guess my trim style/technique is too rough. What do I do? What do you guys do?
How do you make a smooth ride with a fairly powerful and quick aircraft especially using only an electric trim button to accomplish it?
After the captain pointed this out I became completely ham-handed at controlling the airplane. I sure miss being able to drop my other hand down and grab a trim wheel so that I can "feel" the weight of the airplane. Any input would be appreciated.
PS. The Dornier has a fair number of pitch changes in the takeoff and initial climb out. On rotation, you are artifically limited to 7 degrees nose up to avoid immediate tail strike, then the airplane needs about 10-12 degrees nose up to accomplish a nice on-speed climb. BUT, when you retract the gear, the airplane pitches up and at a thousand feet we retract the flaps and the airplane pitches down.
In my view and having flown a lot of Centurian's and Seneca's in the past (fairly heavy feeling GA airplanes) I used to not bother with a lot of trim between rotation and the thousand foot flap retraction. I would just set the trims for takeoff which is slightly nose up. Then on rotation I would control pitch momentarily for the seven degrees. Call for Gear Up, The plane would pitch up and I would apply a small down force in keeping the plane at around 10 degrees then at a thousand feet I would call for flaps up and absorb all the pitch change in my hands until comfortable at 10-12-15 nose up whatever I needed and then would trim the force away. This would create anywhere from 20 pounds of down force to 40 pounds of up force in my hands until the trim could assist. And remember that all of this is happening in the six to seven seconds that the plane requires to climb out.
All comments except for "Use the autopilot!" and "What's hand flying?" are appreciated.
I'm new to 121 flying and the Dornier Jet. The Dornier has no "manual" trim wheel, just an electric trim thumb control. (PS after seeing the B737 and B727 cabins, I kind of hoped that all big airplanes would have big manual trim wheels, but I guess Dornier wants to save money.)
Here's the deal - on climbout and hand flying the Dornier the captain asked me what I was doing with the pitch control of the airplane. Specifically he wanted to know what I was doing with the trim. I said I was pitching to a desired number, in this case 12 degrees nose up and then trimming to relieve the pressure off my hand. He then asked where I learnt to fly and then scolded me saying that I should be flying by making the trim lift the nose to the value.
I've never flown a plane with as much power as the Dornier - 12,000 lbs of thrust for a 34,000lb airplane. I guess my trim style/technique is too rough. What do I do? What do you guys do?
How do you make a smooth ride with a fairly powerful and quick aircraft especially using only an electric trim button to accomplish it?
After the captain pointed this out I became completely ham-handed at controlling the airplane. I sure miss being able to drop my other hand down and grab a trim wheel so that I can "feel" the weight of the airplane. Any input would be appreciated.
PS. The Dornier has a fair number of pitch changes in the takeoff and initial climb out. On rotation, you are artifically limited to 7 degrees nose up to avoid immediate tail strike, then the airplane needs about 10-12 degrees nose up to accomplish a nice on-speed climb. BUT, when you retract the gear, the airplane pitches up and at a thousand feet we retract the flaps and the airplane pitches down.
In my view and having flown a lot of Centurian's and Seneca's in the past (fairly heavy feeling GA airplanes) I used to not bother with a lot of trim between rotation and the thousand foot flap retraction. I would just set the trims for takeoff which is slightly nose up. Then on rotation I would control pitch momentarily for the seven degrees. Call for Gear Up, The plane would pitch up and I would apply a small down force in keeping the plane at around 10 degrees then at a thousand feet I would call for flaps up and absorb all the pitch change in my hands until comfortable at 10-12-15 nose up whatever I needed and then would trim the force away. This would create anywhere from 20 pounds of down force to 40 pounds of up force in my hands until the trim could assist. And remember that all of this is happening in the six to seven seconds that the plane requires to climb out.
All comments except for "Use the autopilot!" and "What's hand flying?" are appreciated.