There is an aileron trimmer in some Boeings. When and why should it be used?
P.S. I'm not a pilot, can you answer with less smart words?
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Sign up to join this communityThere is an aileron trimmer in some Boeings. When and why should it be used?
P.S. I'm not a pilot, can you answer with less smart words?
Given your request to "answer with less smart words," it's hard to know what knowledge can be assumed, but I'll give it a try.
Let's say you're hand-flying the airplane straight and level, and you find that the right wing keeps wanting to drop, which you prevent by using left-aileron pressure on the control yoke. You can "trim out" the need for that left aileron pressure by rotating the aileron trim to the left (counter-clockwise).
Aileron trim is not often used for the simple reason that in normal aircraft operation, it's usually set where it should be from the previous flight. In other words, you don't fuss with it unless you notice a need to fuss with it. In 12 years on 727s and 747s, I think I used aileron trim less than a dozen times.
The reasons that I can think of offhand that would make you want to fuss with it include:
To the best of my knowledge, all Boeing aircraft have aileron trim capability, not just some. Indeed, I would be surprised to find any transport category aircraft that does not have aileron trim capability.
Essentially, aileron trim can be used to to keep and airplane from responding to a situation where one side of an airplane is significantly heavier than the other side.
In short almost NEVER.
I have flown the A320/A330/A340 and they don’t have an option to trim the ailerons.
I am currently flying the 777, and when you feel that the aircraft is not flying straight we generally tend to use the rudder trim over the aileron trim.
Aileron trim is used in case of wings fuel assymetry, this is used until you correct the assymetry by providing the engines from a single wing.