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Hat switch, fore or aft for nose up?

To pitch up without stick movement which way do you move the "Hat" switch?

  • Fore

    Votes: 2 2.7%

  • Aft

    Votes: 71 97.3%
  • Total voters
    73
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SMO

SMO

Well Known Member
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The "Hat" on a stick grip usually controls pitch trim. I am curious if there is consistency with respect to the fore/aft movement of the "Hat" switch and the aircraft response - nose up versus nose down.

The question I ask is: To pitch up without stick movement which way do you move the "Hat" switch?
 
Last edited:
Two reasons for the choice everyone so far has made:
- More natural to move the hat in the same way that you have to push the stick
- Just about everyone else has it this way, why complicate it when mowing between AC?
 
Mark,

Small sample size so far, but 100% "aft = up" shows what I would expect. Very industry-standard practice. Perhaps there are outliers, but the norm is "aft = up". Also, one thought...not meant to be snarky...but I think in terms of pitching up with aft stick pressure, then trimming out the pressure with the hat, to hold what I want...versus moving the nose with the trim. (On the outside chance you're thinking about a jammed control stick, trim may help in some cases, and I'd stay with the standard.)

Cheers,
Bob
 
There's more to it.

FAR 23.677 says that a trim indicator needs to be labeled as to what happens when you move it in any direction, but that's all. I seem to recall that it used to say that the rotation of the switch must be the same as the rotation that will be imparted to the aircraft, but I can't find that.

Having the switch rotate in the same direction as the airplane movement seems an obvious best choice, especially on a control stick. However, in the model airplane remote control world, pushing the top of a panel mounted switch is nose up trim (backwards!), and sometimes you see this in homebuilts.

In the homebuilt world, there's no legal requirement for compliance with FAR 23, but there's lots of good in FAR 23 that is best not casually ignored.
 
With rc aircraft, assuming you're holding the transmitter horizontal-ish, up trim is achieved by moving the trim control toward you, so it's consistent with 1:1 scale aircraft.

Rc transmitters will often beep for each increment of trim added; it would be nice to have this on our planes for those who have fitted electric trim.
 
RC airplanes have nothing to do with this. There is no reason not to configure your airplane like every other light airplane, commercial airplane and fighter airplane in the world.
 
FAR25.677 Trim systems.
(a) Trim controls must be designed to prevent inadvertent or abrupt operation and to operate in the plane, and with the sense of motion, of the airplane.
 
Thanks for the responses. I got my answer: There is clear consistency with respect to configuration of the hat switch
 
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