C310 slowly drops left wing

[stopnicki]

Hello to all:
I recently purchased the C310 and I am enjoying it, other than after take off.

Immediately after lift off and in the air, the left wing slowly starts to drop and I have to continuously keep some right pressure on the yoke, to keep wings level.

It is very hard (very sensitive) to trim the nose direction (roll) as it will then drop the right wing.

I have Honeycomb Alpha and Beta devices, but after reading a few other posts, I have cleared all "Autopilot" assignments from these devices. I also checked the autopilot panel during take off and no lights came on.

The "sharpness" of the left wing drop eases a bit, when I set climb power, but the left wing still continues to drop. The only way of avoiding this, is to stop hand flying and actually turn on the autopilot with the appropriate heading and climb. It will keep the wings level.

Any ideas or suggestions as to why this might be happening, are greatly appreciated
Regards,
Roberto

PS: I had a fun moment when dealing with the nose/roll trim, and watching a water bottle suddenly appear, while slowly rolling on the floor, from the right seat, to the left. Great detail!

[Slayer]

I believe the trims are being looked at for the SP release. Some seem to be too sensitive and others not enough.

[stopnicki]

Thank you Steve for the reply.
Yes, in my set up, the trims (particularly the roll trim) are quite sensitive.
I’ll be looking forward to the new release!
Regards,
Roberto

[tomas.chrapek]

Hello to all:
I recently purchased the C310 and I am enjoying it, other than after take off.

Immediately after lift off and in the air, the left wing slowly starts to drop and I have to continuously keep some right pressure on the yoke, to keep wings level.

It is very hard (very sensitive) to trim the nose direction (roll) as it will then drop the right wing.

I have Honeycomb Alpha and Beta devices, but after reading a few other posts, I have cleared all "Autopilot" assignments from these devices. I also checked the autopilot panel during take off and no lights came on.

The "sharpness" of the left wing drop eases a bit, when I set climb power, but the left wing still continues to drop. The only way of avoiding this, is to stop hand flying and actually turn on the autopilot with the appropriate heading and climb. It will keep the wings level.

Any ideas or suggestions as to why this might be happening, are greatly appreciated
Regards,
Roberto

PS: I had a fun moment when dealing with the nose/roll trim, and watching a water bottle suddenly appear, while slowly rolling on the floor, from the right seat, to the left. Great detail!

Hi there. The left turning tendency is normal in higher power settings when pointing the nose up. It's called a P-factor and the way to combat that is not with ailerons, but with a rudder. You can also set some rudder trim so you don't need to keep the pressure all the time. I rarely use autopilot in C310, it's such a joy to fly manually and when properly trimmed, almost hands- and feet-off flying.

[stopnicki]

Thank you Tomas:
I had thought of the P-Factor, but did not think that it affects twin-engined aircraft ..... until I remembered that some of them have counter-rotating props, just for that purpose.
I am getting better at flying the C310, enjoying it a lot.
I put a bit of rudder trim and aileron trim before take off and, as you describe, when power and angle of attack are reduced, I take out the trim as appropriate.
Having a lot of fun!
Regards,
Roberto

[tomas.chrapek]

Thank you Tomas:
I had thought of the P-Factor, but did not think that it affects twin-engined aircraft ..... until I remembered that some of them have counter-rotating props, just for that purpose.
I am getting better at flying the C310, enjoying it a lot.
I put a bit of rudder trim and aileron trim before take off and, as you describe, when power and angle of attack are reduced, I take out the trim as appropriate.
Having a lot of fun!
Regards,
Roberto

Great to hear you're having fun. You should combat P-factor only with rudder, though. Aileron trim is e.g. for discrepancies in fuel quantities.