Indeed questions to be answered. 1- Stickyness. 2- Center detent on roll and pitch. 3- How much total elevator travel? ( older yoke has 6 inches total elevator. Fail!) ps. with my older Sayek yolk I did read to NOT install the drivers. Still never had. Still no issues with linear (roll) movement.

I got a reply from someone who owned a Cessna yoke, and returned it:He said it's the same build as the first yoke Saitek made, same stickyness with springs, there are normal roll and pitch detent, and elevator travel probably didn't change if it's the same yoke.I also never had problems with roll movement - the pitch was what bothered me.I think I'll be getting ready to order the PFC sometime around June.

I got a reply from someone who owned a Cessna yoke, and returned it:He said it's the same build as the first yoke Saitek made, same stickyness with springs, there are normal roll and pitch detent, and elevator travel probably didn't change if it's the same yoke.I also never had problems with roll movement - the pitch was what bothered me.I think I'll be getting ready to order the PFC sometime around June.

Boy, I looked at the price of those PFC's.... Ok, Ive found enough info that tells me the Cessna yoke is a fail. Now I'm back to building my own using my old pro flight yolk. Pitch and roll is easy. Ball baring pillow blocks for roll axis that sit on two quality ball baring drawer sliders. Springing and limiting is easy but what I can't figure out is how to attach the two pots. It's about finding plastic gears and a geat track (elevator). I saw a vidoe that some gut was salvaging printers for gears. As for the PFC's. I could find anything about elevator travel. I can tell you in a C210 Centurian. Flairing on landing means your pulling that yoke way into your belly. From a trimmed approach, I'd say you have to pull like 10 inches of elevator to flair.

I can tell you in a C210 Centurian. Flairing on landing means your pulling that yoke way into your belly. From a trimmed approach, I'd say you have to pull like 10 inches of elevator to flair.

You are talking real life?

You are talking real life?

Yes, my brother flies a C210 and a Piper 180. I dont ask for departure or landing, he's not an instructor but do get to fly right seat quite often. When he transtitions from approach to a flair. He's pulling the yoke into his lap. And in a C210, it's heavy. Super heavy. Talking at least 10 punds to pull back. One handed of course, other on the throttle. With the old Saitek yoke. Lack of fine inputs on the elevator, I have just gone to most aircraft .cfg's and increased pitch stability to get rid of the rocking chair affect when trying to flair on landing. A stock FSX approach and flair is WAY harder than the real thing. Setting the nose and keeping it there is realy not that hard. I have also had to tweek my aircraft .air files to emloy a dutch roll. A yaw induced roll. In order to make crosswind landings more realistic. In a crosswind now. I have to hold lots of windward alearons with opposite rudder. Cross controlling for a crosswing made real. It's a good reflex builder as cross controlling needs to be learned as it is totaly unatural. Physicaly speaking.

I just bought a Saitek Pro flight yoke. I was very disappointed at first. There was way too much resistance and stickiness in the pitch axis and a very inaccurate detent in both pitch and roll. The centering force was also way too strong. The yoke action wasn't smooth at all, it felt like the shaft wasn't lubricated at all. I could not even fly a visual approach with the 737 accurately and would float on the flare and slam the plane on the ground at -500FPM for brutal hard landings. Fine control in pitch was impossible.Then i did a rubber band mod that i found on this forum and lubricated the shaft liberally with Dow Corning stopcock grease. What a difference! The action became completely smooth and the pitch detent disappeared completely. The centering force became reasonable allowing for one hand flying. I flew a CAT I ils by hand and nailed a -150FPM landing in the touchdown zone with plenty of fine pitch and roll adjustments. I have not tried the Cessna yoke but now i am impressed with the modded Saitek Pro Flight yoke. The rubber band mod is cheap and very effective. Try modding the yoke before buying something much more expensive. The only downside is that the warranty is voided, but now i feel like i got a great deal for a 180 dollar yoke and throttle system from Saitek.

This Dow Corning stopcock grease, what kind of fat is that? It that like a silicon spray, just in the tube or is that a really hard brown fat that you can find on gearwheels and alike?

For lube. Stainless shaft on a plastic bushing I use a dry graphite spray lube. Real aircraft general purpose lube that wont build up dirt and dust. .Don't use a petrolium lube on anything plastic.For the pro flight yoke I also did a mod. No rubber band. I remove one of two elevator springs ( the lower one is not screwed down) and removed the roll sprring and use the elevator spring instead. It went above the shaft, closing that clamshel thing that gives the roll centering. Loose enough that there is no detent but still centers.. Yeah, smashing her down on the runway a few times sent me looking for a screwdriver. Ready for another lube so I'll take pics. A rubber band won't last. Have you guys heard of the term "stiring the pot"? Helo lingo but works with aircraft as well. Hard to discribe but it works. Exagirated flight inputs that actualy will stabilize a flair.

When you "stir the pot" sticky controls dont matter. Found an explination on a helo site. : In the wonderful fixed-wing world we have an equivalent, the guy who gets to stirring the ailerons and elevators trying to achieve a really smooth touchdown. There you are, floating along in ground effect with what looks like a Bruce Lee action sequence going on over there; the controls have so little 'bite' that the airplane really isn't reacting very much but yer man is so busy that he hasn't noticed that! Of course if you point this out to him he gets mortally offended that you are criticising some technique he was taught by some goofy instructor way back when. Sigh...

This Dow Corning stopcock grease, what kind of fat is that? It that like a silicon spray, just in the tube or is that a really hard brown fat that you can find on gearwheels and alike?

It is a thick and colorless silicone based lubricant. It works very well because it forms a thick film between the plastic bushing and the metal shaft. I don't expect to reapply it anytime soon. Look up Dow Corning High Vacuum Grease in Google to learn more about it. Price is about $30 - $40 bucks for a large tube. You might be able to borrow some for free if you or a friend has access to a chem lab. Works great for me. Together with the rubber bands this yoke provides the feel, precision, smoothness and centering force i was looking for. All the springs from my stock yoke and the entire pitch centering mechanism are in the garbage now.

Any change anyone can post pics of the mods that you performed. Or links to others with pics and directions.I'm getting ready to pick up the Cessna yoke and want to be prepared to mod it if necessary.