Flaps in Microsoft Flight Simulator

Video Transcript

"DIXON GILLETTE: Welcome back to Expert Village. My name is Dixon Gillette and let's continue our tutorial on Microsoft Flight Simulator X. All right, let's talk about a few of the extra--little items in your aircraft that are not related to your primary control components. Most light aircraft have only one trim control. Trim is essentially your aircraft's pressure reliever, or cruise control that'll help you maintain a specific pitch altitude in your airplane. This is usually accomplished by a control wheel, and by pulling the wheel down, you're essentially going to trim you aircraft up, in consequence, by pulling your wheel up, you're going to pitch your aircraft's nose over. Now, keep in mind, this is essentially to relieve pressure on your control yoke, and you should not be flying using the trim alone. More complex aircraft or more expensive aircraft will have several different trim options, such as the rudder or even on the ailerons. These all work in the same ways to essentially fine tune your aircraft's orientation. Most of the aircraft on flight simulator have flaps. Now, flaps essentially change the shape of the wing by providing greater area on the wing and a different curvature surface thus increasing lift and increasing drag. Flaps are extremely important when taking off from short runways or if you need to make a steep descent into a runway and you do not want to increase your airspeed. Flaps are very useful for these things."