The One Where I Learn the Value of Trim (and a Few Humbling Stalls)

Today marked our first official FMT session—and while I’d technically call it a solid training day, it definitely came with its fair share of challenges. Right off the bat, I was surprised by how well the sim responded to control inputs. Compared to the Redbird sims I’ve used in the past, this one felt a lot more balanced—not overly sensitive, just smooth and responsive. Takeoffs were straightforward, especially once I got the hang of flying to the magenta TOGA pitch lines (or the “hockey sticks,” as we like to call them). The first one was a bit rough, but after some guidance from the instructor, the second felt much more composed.

What really stood out today was just how important it is to understand and manage automation—particularly when you’re flying without autothrottle. In FPTs, we learned what each vertical mode does, but actually flying manually without autothrottle adds a whole new layer of complexity. That was the day’s biggest lesson for me: understanding what vertical modes are active, how they interact with pitch, and how your power settings tie directly into the flight director’s commands.

We worked through basic maneuvers—climbing and descending turns, steep turns—and the recurring theme was trim, trim, trim. The instructor emphasized how crucial it is to trim the aircraft out properly so you’re not fighting it through every maneuver. Once I got into that rhythm, maintaining altitude and speed during steep turns became far easier.

Then came the stalls, and I’ll be honest—this was where the struggle hit. I was so focused on managing speed manually that I kept pulling power too early during flight level change climbs. Every time I did, the flight director would lower the pitch, and I couldn’t figure out why until the instructor explained it clearly: in FLCH with autothrottle, the system gives you full power and adjusts pitch to maintain target speed when in a climb. Without autothrottle, you have to handle that entire relationship yourself. Once it clicked, the next attempts went far better.

The landing configuration stall also gave me trouble at first. I was late on flap retraction during recovery, which made it hard to get the nose down. Once I started thinking ahead and anticipating the recovery profile—power in, nose down, clean up the drag—it improved significantly. The final landing stall recovery was actually… solid.

We also went through unusual attitudes, which weren’t too bad once I figured out the pitch picture. That led into our first ILS approach, with a twist—an RA (resolution advisory) popped up. My mistake? I accidentally let go of the TCS button too early, causing the autopilot to fight me near the end. Lesson learned. The second attempt was smooth.

We followed that with a CAT I ILS and a missed approach, then simulated an autopilot failure and ran the appropriate QRH. The approach after that was hand-flown, and though it wasn’t perfect, it was centered and stable. I focused on not flaring too aggressively—something that got me in trouble back in ATP—and it paid off.

To wrap up, the instructor had us reposition for a visual approach. It felt strange relying on visual cues like PAPIs after weeks of heads-down instrument work. My first attempt was shaky—I adjusted pitch constantly trying to stay on the visual glidepath—but after a reset and a reminder to fly the trim, the second attempt was much cleaner.

Overall, it wasn’t a perfect session, but it was one of the most valuable so far. The sim didn’t hand out compliments, but it handed out plenty of teachable moments, and I feel a lot sharper for it. Tomorrow, we jump into V1 cuts, single-engine RNAV and ILS CAT II approaches—can’t wait to see how it goes.