What's the difference between yaw and rudder trim?

[Mama Symphonia]

Hi everyone! New flyer here. Unfortunately due to my vision problems I'll never be eligible for an actual pilot's license, but I do love flying in video games! X-Plane is my first leap into an "actual" flight sim and I'm still figuring everything out...

Can someone tell me the difference between "yaw" and "rudder trim"? In every other game I've ever played, "yaw" turns the craft left and right, but no matter what I map to "yaw" in X-Plane, it doesn't seem to do anything. After a lot of trial and error, I found out that to turn the plane I had to map an axis to "rudder trim". Whew! Finally passed flight school, haha. But why does the game have seperate controls for yaw and rudder? And if I can turn with rudder trim, do I need to worry about mapping yaw?

Thank you for your help! ^-^

[John W]

Here are definitions of the three axes involved in flying.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_principal_axes

Rudder controls Yaw, Ailerons controll Roll and Elevator controls pitch. For each axis there is a trim tab to adjust the axis. Rudder trim is seldom used during normal flight once initially set. You adjust rudder trim to keep your Yaw axis centered and maintain a straight heading. In the case of an engine failure on a multi engine aircraft you would adjust the rudder trim to help keep the aircraft heading straight.

Similarly the trims on the other axes do the same thing. If your aircraft rolls left or right, adjust the aileron trim so the wings remain level.

If your aircraft climbs or descends during level flight adjust the elevator trim to keep the aircraft altitude constant.

I'm sure there are videos on this on the internet to help you.

[ZeroReady]

Map yaw to your axis of choice, look outside the plane at the rudder. Does it move when you move the axis?

You shouldnt be using rudder trim to yaw. The rudder itself should work just fine.

[opjose]

And to avoid confusion:

https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/how-do-pilots-steer-their-aircraft-while-taxiing-on-runways-tiller-rudder.html