Hey Guys and Gals, I am a design engineer for a prominent sporting goods manufacturer.I have also gotten hooked on these crazy flight sims.With the help of some pilot friends of mine, I am in the process of designing a prototype controller consisting of a column style yoke, rudder with toe brakes, and reverse thrust equipped throttle.I started with this design criteria in mind. Rugged aluminum construction, generic, affordable, realistic feeling controls, with upgradability and expandability options. More buttons, switches, trims, force feedback, throttle quadrants, autopilot, etc can be future options.I think I would be able to tool up and offer the base controls for around the price of an existing Cessna style yoke and rudder system.Please take a moment to review the rough demo video and offer some feedback as well as interest levels, if any. Your input is much appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your attention.In the mean time, I am having a blast testing this thing.Sincerely, ScottT/A Flight [email protected]

Just checked it out, very intriguing. As far as input goes:* Yoke can use some cleaning up, but I like how the yoke shaft axis is higher up. The Saitek yoke shaft axis is too low and interferes with smoothness of movement during pull/push, as well as feels awkward and a bit gritty during turns. That yoke looks well-thought-of, but just clean it up a tad...and cant the tops inward a bit.* The pedals should come up off the ground. Aircraft sitting positions are nothing like desk positions and using the rudder pedals in the desk posture will put strain on the lower back.* Throttle looks good enough. Is this setup solely for jets/twins? If not, might want to consider interchangeable handles and more levers for props and condition/mix.I think you got a good thing here, just needs some cosmetic work, largely.

A lot will depend on how much you can put such a system out for, so you will need to think very carefully about that. There are full aircraft yokes of the airliner type available, but they are ridiculously expensive and thus probably not going to sell very well. If you can bring something in that is not too much more expensive than an equivalent Saitek or CH type of set up, you'd have a winner.One thing I would consider though is the clearance of the yoke pedestal on the seat. As you probably are aware, most airliner seats have a cut out in the middle to allow the yoke pedestal to come back in between the pilot's legs; without such a seat, the average PC simmer would probably appreciate a yoke pedestal that has a curve in it to prevent it fouling their chair when pulled back. Take a look at the design of some helicopter cyclic control sticks for an idea on how to shape that sort of thing.Good luck with it.Al

A lot will depend on how much you can put such a system out for, so you will need to think very carefully about that. There are full aircraft yokes of the airliner type available, but they are ridiculously expensive and thus probably not going to sell very well. If you can bring something in that is not too much more expensive than an equivalent Saitek or CH type of set up, you'd have a winner.

Definitely. Some basic stuff out there can range from the moderately-obscene to mortgage-your-firstborn, pricewise. It's hard to find a bang-for-buck product in regard to visual aesthetics, ergonomics, features, performance and price.

One thing I would consider though is the clearance of the yoke pedestal on the seat. As you probably are aware, most airliner seats have a cut out in the middle to allow the yoke pedestal to come back in between the pilot's legs; without such a seat, the average PC simmer would probably appreciate a yoke pedestal that has a curve in it to prevent it fouling their chair when pulled back. Take a look at the design of some helicopter cyclic control sticks for an idea on how to shape that sort of thing.

Another touchy compromise area: operational feel vs. available range-of-motion. For what they are, Saitek and CH yokes are good for the budget-minded, but to keep the units relatively small, the range of motion was reduced in the pitch department (push-pull), which makes the yoke feel sensitive to a Cessna pilot in regard to climb and descent. If this new yoke had better range-of-motion for more accurate feel, that'd appeal greatly to users, but of course, price is the main issue in our sport. Bearing that in mind, compromises will arise in production, but it'd be interesting to see where this goes from there.

Hey Chock and Chairborne. Thank you for that input. This is precisely what is need.This thread was previously deleted. I am thankful that whoever reconsidered did, and restored it.Please let me make it clear that I am not spamming, and I have nothing for sale at this time.Me, like most everyone here is a sim junky.Most of us have some real flight time under our belts. Just costs to much to do it for real these days.Like I said originally, I am a product and manufacturing Engineer of 20 years . And as we all know, all of the available controls are ridiculously overpriced.I want to change that. You tell me what you want, and I will try to the best of my ability to give it to you.My goal here (is not) to offer a $1500 Yoke replica in a $30,000 full blown simulator.Just a realistic as possible, control surface that works well, and that we all can [email protected]

Excellent, you seek the niche that people are talking about. Bearing that in mind, the suggestions I have for your yoke are few, so as to keep the yoke as low-priced as possible. You already have the basic package made up and it looks good for what it is; all it really needs is a tiny bit of aesthetic/ergonomic clean-up. The yoke head is my #1 concern, that's all.Thanks for putting this idea in the forum; you saved me a lot of time and aggravation from trying to get my mom to crochet me a new yoke setup! :( :( :( (shhh, don't tell her I said that!)

Hi chairborne.This was just a fabricated prototype. In a production model, all of the issues with cosmetics could have been corrected.I was confident that I could have offered a quality product for less than Saitek, and CH.Unfortunately, this market research campaign has terminated this project due to lack of interest. It did not gain enough speed to taxi, let alone fly.I cannot justify investing in the tooling, and molds, let alone the USB board designs that would be required to bring such a product to production.But Once again, Thank you for the input. Scott

That's a very cool product.. markets change quickly hopefully it'll sway in your favor in the future. That's honestly the first yoke system that didn't look like a toy to me! and the fact that the pedal and yoke are altogether and can't slip away... trust me I enjoy every last piece of metal in my x52 pro, you just don't get that stiffness with plastic.

That's a very cool product.. markets change quickly hopefully it'll sway in your favor in the future. That's honestly the first yoke system that didn't look like a toy to me! and the fact that the pedal and yoke are altogether and can't slip away... trust me I enjoy every last piece of metal in my x52 pro, you just don't get that stiffness with plastic.

Hi AVN8tr, :( I could not have said it better myself. That was exactley the product that I wanted to deliver.I have one. Trust me, It is Way cool, Way realistic.I go thru withdrawals if I do not get at least one flight in a day.Thanks Bro,Scott.

Thank you again for all of your input, and suggestions.After summing them up from this forum, as well as others, I went back to the drawing board.I am looking at more of a kit form at this point, and the preliminary costing looks like I could be able to offer each component for around the $100 mark..After all, if you have rudders, or a yoke, etc, why get another one right?This line would be mostly steel construction, and for starters would include the following components. 1) Yoke, with hat switch, self centering 2 position rocker, and 2 push buttons. optional rotary dampener.2) Rudder pedals, with dynamic breaking.3) Twin Throttle quadrant, 8 position incremental flaps, gear, speed and park breaks, and reverse thrust.4)USB Control module, with 8 axis, 30 button options, with dedicated ports as well as 2 Aux ports. Double the meat, double the cheese.So you can do whatever you please. Before I go into the prototype phase, I would love your feedback on this. Thank you again in advance. Scott[email protected] Images over the allowed 200k file size deleted

Hi Scott,Thanks a lot for what you're doing, it sounds really promising. I have couple of comments:

3) Twin Throttle quadrant, 8 position incremental flaps, gear, speed and park breaks, and reverse thrust.

It would be great to have an option with 4 engines quadrant. On prop aircrafts additional rudders can be used for a plenty of other things.Also I have question: do you have an idea how throttle quadrant will look like? I'm looking for little more realistic flaps, gear and speed brake controls (not buttons, but levers).

4)USB Control module, with 8 axis, 30 button options, with dedicated ports as well as 2 Aux ports.

It would be really great to have ability to quicky disconnect device from the PC or USB Control module (depends on where Control module is mounted, if it is separate - diconnection from moduile option is preferred) to free a space at front of the PC.Actually I think that even in what I see from your video this product should be successful. I reallywish you good luck, and can't wait the moment it will be available for ordering.- Evgeny

Hi Evgeny, Thank you for the reply. They have a 200K size limit on attachments that I was unaware of and these photo's got deleated.As for the 2 Vrs 4 throttle question? That is a good question.Microsoft limits you to 8 available Axis, and in order to do that, somthing else would need to be sacrificed. This is the kind of input that I seek.In this case the proportional brakes could replaced with on-off braking.Would that be preferable?Thanx,Scott.

Hi Scott,Thanks a lot for clarification. I guess this is perfectly designed thing.With regards to my question I see there two options:1. Have ability to add module with additional throttles (cheaper, you need only connector is required on main module)2. Have those pre-built initially (more expensive, but more releable)In both cases user need to have ability to configure way how axis behaves. I do love Saitek's way to do so where you can configure each control if it works as axis or sends keystrokes (for example keystrokes works pretty fine for reverse)

Hi Scott,Thanks a lot for clarification. I guess this is perfectly designed thing.With regards to my question I see there two options:1. Have ability to add module with additional throttles (cheaper, you need only connector is required on main module)2. Have those pre-built initially (more expensive, but more releable)In both cases user need to have ability to configure way how axis behaves. I do love Saitek's way to do so where you can configure each control if it works as axis or sends keystrokes (for example keystrokes works pretty fine for reverse)

Hi Evgeny, Thank you again for the reply, and interest.Unfoutunatly, the company that I work for has pulled the plug on this project, and I have been re-assigned.They are number people. Meaning, they look at how many times this, and other threads have been veiwed, Vrs. intrest level comments back.This is too bad. I enjoyed this, as I am a sim junky like you all are.Anyway, you all have some great products to choose from.Scotty, Out.