Melchior FRANZ wrote:
> Get into an aircraft with autopilot (preferably one with 2D panel,
> e.g. the c182), climb to some safe altitude, then switch the
> autopilot to altitude lock. Now pitch up or down manually and watch
> the elevator trim go to the opposite direction. While it is off,
> unlock the altitude. The elevator trim is left at its last
> position, which may be quite extreme and can make the aircraft
> somewhat difficult to handle, until it is (slowly?) trimmed back to
> a sane state by the pilot.
This is actually the way real aircraft work. If you play with the
yoke while the autopilot is engaged, the autopilot will move to oppose
your control force. When you let go, it will be temporarily out of
trim.
And you're exactly right that this can be dangerous. There was a
Airbus that crashed in (I think) Taiwan a few years ago for exactly
this reason. The pilot had accidentally put the autopilot into
"go-around" mode, so it was trying to climb. He had to hold it on the
glide path with more and more forward force. At some point he let go
and the aircraft pitched up into a catastrophic stall. Hopefully
someone more familiar with the accident can provide more details.
[I'm still alive, by the way. It's been a busy few weeks.]
Andy
--
Andrew J. Ross Beyond the Ordinary Plausibility Productions
Sole Proprietor Beneath the Infinite Hillsboro, OR
Experience... the Plausible?
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