Simviation Forums

I'm fairly new to FS2004, but love it. Enough so to enroll in flight lessons at our local airport in April. My question is, I've been scouting around for a decent, yet cheaper solution for a flight yoke, rudder pedals, and throttle controls. What I'd utimately like is a yoke and pedal setup that works for most single or duel engine craft, but for pure gluttony, a throttle control for the big boys like the 737 and 747 commercial jets. I've been reading reviews about Ch Products and they seem to be pretty decent by others standards, but would really appreciate some educated opinions from experienced Flight Sim flyers. Any help would be greatly appreciated... On a side note, and I know this doesn't belong in this forum, how do I start a flight with the engines off? Everytime I create a flight, the engines are started which kind of knocks off a bit of the realism...

Thanks again...

Well, I would definately highly suggest the CH Products yoke and pedals.  Ive had them for a while now and nothing Ive used comes anywhere close to their quality.  They also make a throttle quadrant, but i cant say anything on that because Ive never used it.

Another question I have is, does the yoke use force feedback?? I've looked around and can't seem to find any info on that specific detail.

Thanks...

I know that the CH yoke doesn't, I've never heard that any other yoke does. Personally, I've never found FF to be all that realistic anyway. The controls in a real aircraft don't vibrate and shake when you taxi, the rudder pedals move sometimes, but that's about it. The only thing that it's good for is applying varying amounts of resitance in different flight conditions. In short, you won't miss it.

No, CH doesnt have force feedback, but the springs make it have a very nice and realistic tension.  Ive never liked FF, thats part of the reason why I got the yoke

Direwolf,

Hi and welcome to SimV.

You might drop down to the "Homebuilt Cockpits" forum to look for more info on yokes, pedals, throttles, and such.  The CH Products yoke is the usual choice... but there ARE a few others.  The issue is the price.  You can get a unit that is like a heavy jet yoke and column if you want......... for a price  ;)

I have the CH Products yoke and pedals in my simpiit at the moement.  They work great.  Well built and solid feel.  No problems with them at all.  No force feedback.  For the lower price end of things... they are quite good.

best,

.....john

Did a little research and seems that it's just the way FS2004 works - having the engines already in a 'all running state'. The only way pass this would be to create and save a flight where you have left the aircraft shut down "cold and dark".

Keni