The most common installation on small airplanes is a single trim tab attached to the trailing edge of the elevator. A small, vertically mounted control wheel manually operates most trim tabs. However,
a trim crank may be found in some airplanes. The cockpit control includes a tab position indicator. Placing the trim control in the full nose-down position moves the tab to its full up position. With the tab up and into the airstream, the airflow over the horizontal tail surface tends to force the trailing edge of the elevator down. This causes the tail of the airplane to move up, and results in a nose-down pitch change.
If you set the trim tab to the full nose-up position, the tab moves to its full-down position. In this case, the air flowing under the horizontal tail surface hits the tab and tends to force the trailing edge of the elevator up, reducing the elevator's angle of attack. This causes a tail-down movement of the airplane and a nose-up pitch change.
In spite of the opposite direction movement of the trim tab and the elevator, control of trim is natural to a pilot. If you have to exert constant back pressure on the control column, the need for nose-up trim is indicated. The normal trim procedure is to continue trimming until the airplane is balanced and the nose-heavy condition is no longer apparent. Pilots normally establish the desired power, pitch attitude, and configuration first, and then trim the airplane to relieve control pressures that may exist for that flight condition. Any time power, pitch attitude, or configuration is changed, expect that retrimming will be necessary to relieve the control pressures for the new flight condition.
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