Sorry if this seems like something that's been covered before, but I've done a good amount of searching and can't get a solid confirmation: Does the Saitek cessna yoke have any deadzones, especially in the pitch axis? I currently have a saitek pro flight yoke with the rubber band mod and there is an annoying ~1 cm of deadzone right at the middle of the pitch axis that is problematic for precise flying, especially hand-flying instrument procedures and landing. This can be demonstrated by going to the yoke properties in windows and also by looking closely at the elevator surfaces while moving the yoke smoothly through the pitch axis. Apparently there is pretty much nothing you can do about it except attach the potentiometers to a separate USB controller "BU0386X" into the yoke, but that's a $100 solution. Given that my yoke is several years old and the throttle quadrants are starting to get bouncy/spiky, I would rather invest in saitek's cessna yoke, but ONLY if there is no deadzone in the pitch axis that the regular pro flight yoke suffers from. Can anyone who owns saitek's cessna yoke confirm this? I can only find subjective information like, "feels more smooth" or "slightly better build quality".

Thanks for your help!

I have one but not sure what yo are asking - can you simplify your question - I'm not that smart lol

I do not have the Cessna yoke but from what I have read the internals are exactly the same as the standard (so-called) "pro flight" yoke, just with gearing to achieve the longer travel. If this is the case (and it is almost inconceivable to me that it is not), you will have all the same problems as the standard yoke with the added bonus that the roll axis dead zone will be bigger.

Pretty sure Mark is right

1 cm of Deadzone? I have the Saitek Pro, not the Cessna, but no, mine doesn't have any built in deadzone. I have a tiny weeny deadzone that I have set in the driver, just to take care of some loose play, but no, it sounds like there is a malfunction. Time to toss it.

1 cm of Deadzone? I have the Saitek Pro, not the Cessna, but no, mine doesn't have any built in deadzone. I have a tiny weeny deadzone that I have set in the driver, just to take care of some loose play, but no, it sounds like there is a malfunction. Time to toss it.

Yes, from memory there should be no electrical reason for a dead zone as the roll axis is a single potentiometer. But the mechanical action is two-part affair that I think might introduce a bit of slack at the centre. The mechanism is shown in my 'CH vs Saitek' video.

MarkDH,

 

Your Almost Aviation link is pretty cool.  I could imagine building lots of stuff with that kit.

 

Gregg

Your Almost Aviation link is pretty cool.  I could imagine building lots of stuff with that kit.

 

So what are you waiting for?!

 

BTW, my eBook is featured in this month's (July/August) PC Pilot. :wink:

So in response to what I'm asking... I took a few images to help show what I'm talking about. There is an 8-9mm portion of the pitch axis that I can push the yoke through with absolutely no response on the airplane's elevator in the simulator (right in the middle of the axis). I used a sharpie pen to mark this area. Perhaps deadzone is not the right word but that's what I was referring to.

 

 

This can be confirmed by looking at the yoke properties. The little gun-sight type symbol (which I drew an arrow towards) will not leave the centered position until I am outside of the lines I marked on the yoke's shaft. Any movement between those 2 lines is undetected by the controller. 

 

 

I guess this was built in to the yoke as a "feature," possibly to stop unwanted input caused by the strong centering springs, but with the rubber band mod I don't need or want this feature. At this point I'm not actually sure if this is what is causing some of my pitch controlability issues in p3d, although regardless there are issues with the yoke that have been pointed out before such as pitch "stickiness" whenever there is any aileron input. I'm assuming saitek's cessna yoke has the same exact "feature" unless someone says otherwise. My plan for now is to try flying around with a joystick and see how it feels, then go from there.

This can be confirmed by looking at the yoke properties. The little gun-sight type symbol (which I drew an arrow towards) will not leave the centered position until I am outside of the lines I marked on the yoke's shaft. Any movement between those 2 lines is undetected by the controller. 

 

I guess this was built in to the yoke as a "feature," possibly to stop unwanted input caused by the strong centering springs, but with the rubber band mod I don't need or want this feature. At this point I'm not actually sure if this is what is causing some of my pitch controlability issues in p3d, although regardless there are issues with the yoke that have been pointed out before such as pitch "stickiness" whenever there is any aileron input. I'm assuming saitek's cessna yoke has the same exact "feature" unless someone says otherwise. My plan for now is to try flying around with a joystick and see how it feels, then go from there.

 

I too own a Saitek Pro Flight Yoke with the rubber band mod and observe the same behavior you are describing. It does affect your flying, specially in approach. I don't know if there is a cure for this.

I own a Cessna yoke. My worst flight sim purchase. Yes it has the physical indentation on centering for both the elevator and aileron axes. For me, after about two weeks of trying to modify with rubber band and springs, I gave up and went back to my CH USB yoke. Cessna yoke went to Trash bin.

 

I am surprised that manufacturers make yokes with Physical indentations; after all, I have never flown nor ever heard of a real airplane having these indentations.

 

The ergonomics of the yoke otherwise was very good. just about the same feel of a real yoke.

You guys may be throwing the baby out with the bath water. Our sim is supposed to reflect the real world as closely as possible. Do we really expect that a complex electromechanical system like an aircraft flight control system is sensitive to a movement of 9 mm? Think about it.