How to Flight Trim an RC Model Airplane

In this video I will show you how to flight trim a radio control (RC) model airplane. Trimming any airplane in flight, full scale, RC model or free flight, is a basic skill of any pilot. An airplane that is aerodynamically trimmed can maintain a constant altitude or airspeed without any control forces being present. All airplanes need to be trimmed for normal flight.

An aircraft has three axes of flight: Pitch axis, controlled by elevator. Roll axis controlled by ailerons. Yaw axis controlled by rudder. The roll and yaw axes for light aircraft ofter can be set on the ground. The pitch axis must be trimmed during each flight to account for airspeed, center of gravity location and configuration changes.

Our RC models have a built in electronic trim function that is easy to set during flight. As trim is set for an airspeed, the pilot must choose an airspeed to trim for. In this video, I select straight and level flight at 2/3 throttle setting. Once the radio control model is trimmed at this airspeed, the pilot should be able to take their hands off of the controls with minimal movement of the airplane.

I also discuss the use of subtrims on the RC transmitter, and the ability of the RC transmitter to retain all trim settings in the computer memory.

Here is a link to my YouTube Channel:
   / timmckay56  

Many thanks in advance for a post of this video on Facebook, it truly helps the channel a lot!
Regards,
Tim

F22 video and plans:

   • F22 Foam Board RC Airplane  

Chapters

00:00 Intro
00:12 How to trim and RC model airplane
00:58 Three axes of flight
02:28 Why we trim
03:45 Why we trim
04:35 Full scale trimming
08:48 Center of gravity
10:15 RC trim basics
13:04 Trimming your RC model
17:40 Subtrims
19:53 Transmitter memory and trims
21:05 Difficult trim