Flight Training - July 2014 - 22

FLIGHT LESSON

By David Phair
FLIGHT LESSON offers the
opportunity for pilots to learn
from the experiences of others.

THERE GOES THE SEAT

TRIM SAVES THE DAY

arrived at the airfield toward evening, with the sun and the
western crosswind quickly disappearing. My instructor had
been flying around the local area in the old Cessna 150 that I use
to train. As I was getting into the airplane, he mentioned that
the seat adjustment lever seemed a bit loose. The airplane was going in
for its 100-hour inspection the next morning, and repairing the lever
was on the to-do list. I religiously perform the "Cessna shuffle" on
every flight (which consists of rocking the seat back and forth on entry)
to ensure that the seat is properly latched. My instructor watched carefully as I did a little extra shuffle that evening. Everything seemed fine.

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Looking back, the recovery was a
nonevent, with no sudden pitch change
or anything else that might have looked
unusual to an observer a few hundred feet
below. The reason for that has everything
to do with the trim mechanism. At the
time the seat unlatched, the airplane was
basically stabilized, allowing me to take
my hands away from the yoke for a few
quick seconds to address the problem.
The fact that I trimmed the airplane
shortly after establishing the climb may
have even prevented a dramatic dive or
a departure stall. Until that evening, I
had always thought of trim as more of
a convenience-something to ease the
pilot's workload. I had never considered it
a safety feature.

WHEN ADJUSTING THE TRIM, DON'T LET
PERFECT BE THE ENEMY OF GOOD.
THE TRIM SYSTEM IS NOT AN AUTOPILOT.

ALEX WILLIAMSON

At a couple hundred feet above ground
level, I made a slight upward pitch adjustment to bring the airplane to its best rate
of climb and adjusted the trim to minimize the yoke force. About a second after
that I hit a bit of unexpected turbulence
that briefly pitched the nose up a few
degrees. I heard a small thunk-or, rather,
felt it resonate in the seat frame, and suddenly realized I was sliding backward.
I dug my heels into the carpet to stop
sliding, leaned forward, and nudged the
yoke forward. I then made another quick
trim adjustment. With the nose lowered,
I carefully readjusted the seat so that
my feet could reach the rudder pedals. I
climbed very gradually to 1,500 feet msl
and continued through the pattern. I
made a careful final approach, avoiding
any steep downward pitch, and landed at
a little less than a full stall to prevent the
seat from unlatching in the flare.

During the early part of my training
I tended to ignore the trim because I
found it difficult to adjust for hands-free
flying, particularly on windy days. Trying
to adjust the trim precisely, especially
while operating in the pattern, was more
distracting than helpful.
But one day my instructor noted that
he always uses the trim to lessen the yoke
force for any pitch or power setting, and
he tries to adjust the trim for "fingertip
flying." A light bulb went on. The goal is
not necessarily a literal hands-off state. It
is simply to make it easier to control the
airplane. A suggestion: When adjusting
the trim, don't let perfect be the enemy of
good. The trim system is not an autopilot. You can get close to hands-off during
cross-country flight, but in the pattern
that may not be realistic.
In the times that I have spent riding
with experienced pilots, I have noticed
them making regular adjustments to the
trim setting. I grew up riding in the back
seat of the Super Cub my grandfather
bought in 1965, which my dad inherited
in 1988. Even on short final, I've noticed
my dad making quick trim adjustments-
I always thought it was neat that with
the engine at idle you could hear the
dry, squeaking pulleys of the Cub's trim
system. The Cub's sculpted trim handle
is conspicuously fancy in a cockpit that
is otherwise unadorned. By contrast, the
stick is just a straight metal tube and,
instead of pedals, two metal bars operate
the rudders. Cubs are my favorite aircraft,
so it pains me to admit that one of the only
nods to aesthetics in the Cub line of aircraft is the lightning bolt on J-3s (and that
is probably just an early example of irony
as a marketing technique). In any case,
it is curious, given the Cub's utilitarian
makeup, that the trim system on those old
birds was given a curvy, shiny handle as if
to say, "Hey, don't forget about me!" And
that, I guess, is the message here.

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Flight Training - July 2014

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