For immediate releaseNewsletter - October 2003After receiving a monumental amount of emails, attended numerous meetings, worked unapproved, callus-induced overtime and witnessed excessive head-scratching -- I am extremely excited to announce that CH Products has finally, officially begun pre-production on the highly anticipated, multi-engine CH Throttle Quadrant. Functions include, but are not limited to... Six fully programmable axis Twelve separate button positions via six individual flipper switches Programmable to 30 different functions / keystrokes or mouse emulation Fully compatible with the latest Control Manager programming software Designed with the same unbeatable quality, construction and technology you've come to expect from CH Availability: Spring 2004Target price: $200-250More information will be posted as it becomes available. Thank you for your continued support!--from an e-mail received from CH on 10/22/03------------------------------------------------------------------Boyd Barker, Senior Command CaptainDirector of Special ProjectsKBOS Hub ManagerWestWind Airlineswww.flywestwind.com

GGGGGGGGGREAT NEWS!!!!!

EDIT: just got the newsletter myself, yes - you are right.Best,Michael J.

CH (c/o Boyd) if this is true ... I think I love you.EDIT: I do love you. Yeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhaaaaaaaahahhhhhhhh, as I believe is parlance in the American vernacular.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

I sure hope this is true-I need one now! :-)http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/Geofdog2.jpg

Sounds nice, but it's too expensive.If only it were cheaper($100-$150 max), I'd get one in a heartbeat.

Sure am glad we sent all those e-mails awhile back, seems we've gotten our message across, eh ?

Find another multi-engine quadrant for less than $350. I double-dare you 8^) . The least-expensive one I'm aware of is the GoFlight quadrant, which retails for $399 I believe. (Elite makes some quadrants but I'm not sure how they hook up or how well they work.)CH is in the business of making game controller products that are reasonably high-volume. There not that many people that want a multi-engine throttle (and I bet that 99% of those read Avsim regularly!), so their cost-per-unit on Non-recoverable Engineering and tooling expenses are higher on something like this.In my opinion this kind of a specialized product is a bit of a stretch for CH as compared to what they've done up to this point, and thus I am thankful that they're going to the effort.Dave Blevins

I can't wait. I hope they have done a good job of asking good focus groups on what features would be important in such a product. I would hate them to build something without sufficient customer input because once they tool the machines and start production, that is what we will have for years to come. I also wonder if they will have more than one version. I have the yoke which has three axis levers on top, but I know there is another version with just on axis lever.

>>In my opinion this kind of a specialized product is a bit of a>stretch for CH as compared to what they've done up to this>point, and thus I am thankful that they're going to the>effort.Fully agree. Actually in my opinion it is a risky endeavour for CH. They may very well loose money.What I was actually lobbying them to do was a simple right-hand throttle (they already have left hand one). There would be much less risk in something like that.Michael J.

>Sounds nice, but it's too expensive.>>If only it were cheaper($100-$150 max), I'd get one in a>heartbeat.too expensive? Just do some searching on the Internet, you will find that this one is one of the cheapest!I believe you are not quite informed on this one. However, I wonder how it will compare to the new Throttle Quadrant from GoFlight. In example Thrust reverser.

You just hit the nail on the head. Thrust reversers, in my opinion, will make or break this thing. I wouldn't want it without reversers...especially for that price.Boyd Barker, Senior Command CaptainDirector of Special ProjectsKBOS Hub ManagerWestWind Airlineswww.flywestwind.com

This is way too expensive IMO.To me, part of this hobby is also building as much as possible yourself. There are numerous examples of people who have built their own 4 levers throttle with reverse, flaps and spoilers.If you want a programmable utility, then just buy a cheap TM gamepad ($30) and this gives you an USB electrical interface to 4 axis and 10 buttons. Then have fun building something using wood, plastic or other material. It's amazing what you can do with a little imagination... It'll cost you much less than $200, and you'll get much more pleasure from it.Eric.

It will have thrust reversers. I asked a few questions of Debby at CH yesterday and she confirmed that one.Expensive? I don't think so, compared to what alternatives are available, and the rugged quality and reputation of CH products. Can you build one yourself more cheaply? Well, of course, but that's not for everybody and I for one will be first in line for this baby. My present homemade effort looks like a porcupine with rigor mortis.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

One feature that would be nice when designing this new yoke would be to put the throttle quadrant on the side of the main housing with the ability to detach and mount up to a foot away from the main unit. I would fing this to be a great feature since at present its hard to fly with your hand on the throttle without the yoke getting in the way. However just the idea of getting a console that offers multi-engine controls with more switches and or buttons is great news. One other nice feature would be to allow the key mic button to be able to be programmed for Roger Wilco if thats possible.NP