2010 October | Flight Simulator Yoke

Make Your Flying As Real As Can Be With A Flight Simulator Yoke

October 7th, 2010 . by admin

Years ago, when I first played Microsoft Flight Simulator, the only option to control the aircraft was to use the keyboard. It was great fun, but sometimes it would get a bit tiresome to search the manual for the correct key to press to control a particular function of the plane. The next step was to add a joystick to the controls. I remember pulling back on the joystick every so gently, and the thrill of being able to use a control other than the keyboard that was almost realistic to control the throttle, pitch, elevators and ailerons.

These days, if you are serious about your flight simulator experience, you could add a high end graphics card, rudder pedals, headsets, joysticks or a yoke to create your own cockpit at home. All of these controls can plug into your favourite flight simulator software to make it a very realistic experience, but if you were to choose just one control to start with, I would say go for a flight simulator yoke.

Firstly, what is a flight simulator yoke? You will probably recognise one if you see it, but may not have known its name. It’s also known as the control wheel or column and it is used as a steering wheel is in a car to control a plane. You can push it, pull it and turn it to control the plane and it will give you a feeling of what it is really like to pilot a plane. Turning it will control the ailerons and make the plane roll to one side. Pushing or pulling it will control the elevators and will change the pitch of the aircraft, making the plan pull up or dive down.

Other controls in your aircraft can also be controlled by a flight simulator yoke. Instead of finding the right key on the keyboard to increase power, many flight simulator yokes allow you to also control the throttle, prop and mix. Also, flight simulator yokes come with a number of buttons and switches, that you can decide what they will be controlling.

If you are ready to make your flying experience more realistic and take a step up from using just the keyboard or joystick, a flight simulator yoke is a great option to increase the fun and enjoyment from your flight simulator.

flight simulator yoke

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Technorati Tags: flight simulator yoke, sim yoke

Saitek ProFlight – A Tour of the Whole Setup

October 7th, 2010 . by admin

This is the ultimate Saitek setup. Take everything that Saitek has on offer, put it together and this is what you get. Its everything that you could want in a flight simulator cockpit. This video takes us through all of the gear.

Firstly the yoke, which is a pretty sturdy control with a metal shaft and smooth action. It also includes a number of buttons for assigning to controls and hat switches that can be programmed to switch your outside view. Another feature of the Saitek yoke is the inbuilt LCD display, that can be used for checking the time or a more useful function, timing the legs of your flight. It also has a feature that may have been overlooked, mounting points. These mounting points can be used to attach up to 6 Saitek instrument panels.

These instrument panels are LCD displays that can be used for airspeed, vertical speed, compass, altimater, artificial horizon or as a turn coordinator. You can also start with only one and build up to 6. If you have less than 6, a toggle is included to switch the display to another control. The throttle also comes with one throttle quadrant to control the throttle. The throttle quadrants can also be purchased separately and as well as the throttle, control the propellor and mix.

The pedals are the final addition to this full setup and allow control of rudder and wheel brakes. A handy feature with the pedals is a tension adjuster to make the sliding back and forth easy or more difficult, simulating a real aircraft where you are actually pulling on wires.