Buttonology

It promised to be a fun afternoon. I had recently gotten checked out in my flying club’s T210 Centurion, so I grabbed a non-club pilot friend and went flying. We were going to visit some local airports and chase down $100 hamburgers while I got used to flying this beast without an instructor.

Amy Laboda

Friday, November 16, 2012 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A pilot flying a newly checked-out, well-equipped T210 Centurion encountered simultaneous issues with pitch control and ATC communication during a casual flight.
The problem was caused by the pilot confusing the yoke-mounted trim switch with the push-to-talk button, leading to inadvertent pitch changes when attempting to communicate and broadcasting muttering when trying to trim.
After identifying and correcting the button mix-up, the pilot successfully continued the flight and learned the critical lesson of paying close attention to control functions, especially in unfamiliar aircraft.