Trim question...

[fiveoboy01]

Yeah yeah I just passed my checkride last week but I still don't know everything, and there is always something to learn.

Today's question centers around using trim on final approach. I've seen it mentioned here many times. I realize the main purpose of trim is to relieve control pressures. I guess I am trying to determine why many talk about using it so much on final. Whether or not it was on purpose, my CFI didn't say much about trimming on final throughout the course of my training and certainly didn't stress it... I use it frequently throughout the various phases of flight, but I definitely don't find myself with a boatload of trim when crossing over the numbers. Normally I watch outside and check my airspeed every few seconds, messing with the yoke to keep pitched for the desired speed.

Perhaps the control pressure required to get to the runway/flare/hold it off doesn't bother me, or maybe I'm just doing it wrong. Or maybe utilizing the trim will help make my usually less-than-perfect landings easier...

I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel and I feel like my approaches are just fine for the most part, but I like to know how stuff works... Any insight/explanation on this is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Jim Logajan]

I'm not sure what the question is because I couldn't find any question mark in your post.

That said, my understanding is that trim serves two distinct purposes:

* Reduces muscle fatigue.

* The muscles in the fingers and wrists allow for finer motor control than those in the arms, but if you have to exert a lot of force then most of it comes from the coarser controlled arm muscles, making finer control motions more difficult. So trim allows use of muscles better tuned for finer force adjustments.

Not sure how accurate the second paragraph is, but seems to match my perceptions.