How Do You Rate The TCA Captain Pack Airbus Edition

[kmanning 12]

I'm thinking about purchasing the Thrustmaster Airbus Edition, including the joystick and the throttle pack, but before I do, I want to get everyone's review on these items and how well they work in FSX, P3D and MSFS 2020. Can I still use the joystick to fly a small plane, even though its design is for the airbus stick? Is it possible to assign 4 jet engines to the 2 throttle quadrant? I understand that it has a mechanical function where I can disable the detents on the throttles so that it slides smoothly without the detents. Is that true? I also noticed that it looks like it has a slider at the front of the joystick. Is that the slider for the throttle quadrant?

Ken. 

Edited July 8, 2022 by kmanning

[regis9 4,032]

I don't have the joystick, but I do have the throttles plus the addons for flaps, spoilers etc.

I love it, having detents in the throttle and the flaps levers etc really make a difference when flying an Airbus.  If anything I wish it was a bit bigger but overall I'm very happy with it.

[JRMurray 214]

I have the joystick and and the throttle with flaps and spoiler. I'll try to answer your questions.

20 hours ago, kmanning said:

how well they work in FSX, P3D and MSFS 2020

I have only P3D v5 installed on my computer. They work very well.

20 hours ago, kmanning said:

Can I still use the joystick to fly a small plane, even though its design is for the airbus stick?

I use mine only for the FSLabs A319/A320/A321 aircraft, but I'm sure that they could be used for any aircraft, small or large.

20 hours ago, kmanning said:

Is it possible to assign 4 jet engines to the 2 throttle quadrant?

If you have the payware FSUIPC, yes, you should easily be able to assign 2 engines per throttle.

20 hours ago, kmanning said:

I understand that it has a mechanical function where I can disable the detents on the throttles so that it slides smoothly without the detents.

Yes, the detents on the throttle quadrant can be disabled. I haven't done so, though, as I use the this throttle and joystick exclusively for the Airbus aircraft.

20 hours ago, kmanning said:

I also noticed that it looks like it has a slider at the front of the joystick. Is that the slider for the throttle quadrant?

Yes, there is a slider on the joystick. It could be used for the throttle, but again, if you have the payware FSUIPC, you could assign that axis to anything (e.g., spoilers).

[Mgard78 141]

On 7/8/2022 at 1:26 PM, JRMurray said:

If you have the payware FSUIPC, yes, you should easily be able to assign 2 engines per throttle.

 but again, if you have the payware FSUIPC, you could assign that axis to anything (e.g., spoilers).

You don't need fsuipc to do that, you can do it straight from the sim. No need to pay extra for that function

[micstatic 4,338]

I like the airbus TCA.  I use it only for flying Fenix in MSFS.  I would highly recommend the shapeway detent replacement.  Keep in mind you need 2.  But it's an inexpensive 3d printed detent (X2).  It makes the detent spots much more realistic.  The default TCA has the manual range way too small.  So I found it hard to taxi without gunning the engine.  with the replacement detents, it's much smoother.  

[Greggy_D 937]

1 hour ago, micstatic said:

I would highly recommend the shapeway detent replacement. 

Do you have a direct link?  I’m not having any luck searching for it.   Many thanks!!!

[micstatic 4,338]

15 minutes ago, Greggy_D said:

Do you have a direct link?  I’m not having any luck searching for it.   Many thanks!!!

https://www.shapeways.com/product/ZRUW892G8/realistic-detents-for-thrustmaster-tca-quadrant

[regis9 4,032]

Thanks for the heads up on those…trying to taxi is indeed a challenge with the small range before flex.  Unfortunately the shipping cost  to Canada is the same as the product pretty much but I might have to bite the bullet anyway.

[micstatic 4,338]

22 hours ago, regis9 said:

Thanks for the heads up on those…trying to taxi is indeed a challenge with the small range before flex.  Unfortunately the shipping cost  to Canada is the same as the product pretty much but I might have to bite the bullet anyway.

It is totally worth it.  My only wish was that they made the detents a little deeper.  Not a big issue.  But would be an improvement.  I also totally removed the detent from the spoiler as I don't even think that's realistic to have any detent on a spoiler.  

[C2615 322]

I just remove detent at all, as I fly non-airbus more often, and I set MCL detent in game a notch higher than mark. when flying airbus it just doesn't feel any wrong, the in-game detent sound is good enough clue for me.

[regis9 4,032]

On 7/23/2022 at 8:08 PM, micstatic said:

It is totally worth it.  My only wish was that they made the detents a little deeper.  Not a big issue.  But would be an improvement.  I also totally removed the detent from the spoiler as I don't even think that's realistic to have any detent on a spoiler.  

Months later I ended up buying this and while I appreciate the greater range while taxing the detent for flex isn't deep enough to keep the throttles in place it seems.  Dare i attempt a fix with a scalpel?

[micstatic 4,338]

10 hours ago, regis9 said:

Months later I ended up buying this and while I appreciate the greater range while taxing the detent for flex isn't deep enough to keep the throttles in place it seems.  Dare i attempt a fix with a scalpel?

I’d be interested to hear. It works good enough for me. But still annoying also. I ended up setting a 5 percent null in fenix settings which helped also 

[regis9 4,032]

1 hour ago, micstatic said:

I’d be interested to hear. It works good enough for me. But still annoying also. I ended up setting a 5 percent null in fenix settings which helped also 

Ahh ok thanks, does that set a 5% null zone around each detent?  It didn’t feel bad, it just didn’t seem to be precise enough the keep one or both throttles from jumping out of the FLEX detent.

I had the thought if I could set a large range around each detent like the FSLabs then it would solve my problem but maybe the null does the same thing?

[micstatic 4,338]

Going from memory it just applied 5% across the board.  But for the most part I very rarely have issues with a detent not locking.  Though I still wish mechanically the 3D print mods felt as pronounced as the original stock detents. 

[regis9 4,032]

Thanks I’ll give it a shot.