I am finding Real Air Simulation's SF260 and Super Decathlon extremely sensitive to any movement I make with the joystick which is a MS Forcefeed back stick.I have tried recalibration via Windows XP and FSUIPC without any noticeable difference.To be fair, this is not just confined to these two a/c although it is particularly noticeable when flying them.I am beginning to wonder if there is a problem with the joystick and would appreciate anyone else's experience before I start renewing hardware.Thanks.David

If this concerns more than just one or two planes, you might consider adjusting your stick sensitivities in the FS2004 options menu.VOlker :]

I've been having similar difficulties with other aircraft recently and I fixed it very easily:1: Adopt the settings recommended in the manual for the Decathlon2: Press keypad `5` (without numlock) before flying - this centres all controls outside of the joystick inputsHope this helpsAllcott

Hi David,I have a quick question:Do the forces feel reversed in the SF.260 when banking? I have a force feedback joystick and when I bank the aircraft the forces feel like they're actually pushing in the wrong direction, ie they don't work to counter my movement, but to encourage it.Just email Rob Young and I'm sure he can help you with it. I'm actually doing the same thing. You'll find his email address at the realairsimulations.com website.James

In real-life the SF260 is highly sensitive to stick inputs - just like the FS2002/2004 RealAir Simulations model. I have flown a number of variants - these are real "fly by fingertip" aircraft - superb for practising aerobatic maneuvers but can be quite a handful to anyone used to flying C172's or Tomahawks etc. Took me quite a while to get used to the overall feel of the SF260. Bit like jumping out of a Ford Escort into a Ferrari!RegardsAdam Moore

I'll answer all these in one if I may:First it is quite difficult to calibrate Force Feedback to suit all makes of stick. We thought we got it right this time, but I see there are a few having "reverse" feedback issues. We're working on a patch for this and will be contacting people with known problems.On sensitivity, both aircraft are capable of 6+ G's. This means their elevators have to be powerful. But in fact we set the elevator so that the first third of movement is very smooth, and we think a lot smoother than many other FS aircraft. The key is not to yank the stick back on the SF.260 and Decathlon, but to apply back "pressure". Both aircraft have a G meter which you can monitor as you pull up into a loop for instance. You can also press Shift Z a couple of times to see the G readings in the red text at the top of the FS2004 screen.We recommend you set your stick sensitivity in FS2004 (control/sensitivity menu) to no more than halfway. If you are in a real aircraft of this type you would feel increasing resistance as you applied more elevator force. This stops you from yanking the stick hard back. In FS, especially without Force Feedback, there are no such constraints, so it is easy to exceed elevator deflection limits for a given speed. The answer is to treat the stick with respect! Just ease the stick back and watch you don't provoke a stall by too much elevator for a given speed.Finally, we say endless times in all our documents, readmes and even the aircraft load menus of FS2004, PLEASE set the general realism slider to maximum. Any other setting will RUIN the flight model!Hope this helps.Kind Regards,Rob Young - RealAir Simulations

Many of the problems I have encountered with FF have been due to my own inability to read the signals the FF is giving me - they really are nothing like a real plane and I hope Russ Dirks new utility might go a long way toward resolving that. One of the big problems has been `breakout` forces - these are poorly represented in FF sticks and actually result in a sudden `break` rather than a response to increasing pressure. For nosewheel aircraft I now lift off by setting a fixed amount of up elevator with the stick, then flying the aircraft off by adjusting the up trim until the nose flies off. This seems to work on all the truly great flight models - and I am experimenting with the same trick (in the reverse sense) for taildraggers.Basically, I try to use the stick as little as possible, and smoothly if I must.Seems to help!Allcott