Flight Sim Stick/Yoke/Rudder

I don't know if anyone here has much experience in this area, for the most part you all seem lucky enough to have pretty good access to real birds. Since I don't get to fly nearly enough I've taken to using MS Flight Simulator. The newest version has several tailwheel aircraft (j-3, dc-3, extra, and others.) I think it has potential to be somewhat realistic if i could get a stick and rudder plugged into my PC. Does anyone have any experience with any sticks or rudders? Any suggestions? I'd prefer at least a decent one that is inexpensive, I'm not looking to have flight school quality but rather just a little something to add a little realism and help me keep my mind working while I'm unable to get out and take to the skies.

sim controls

rrb....CH Products makes good controls.the rudders are $100 or less on the net.as far as a stick goes you'll have to chk.into that.i use the full throttle quadrant yoke w/all the goodies.just do a search w/"CH yokes or CH Products".then shop the net for the best price.happy flying. Herman in Texas.

rrb,

I just got FS 2004 for my (40th :-? ) birthday. I went out and bought a Cyborg joystick at best buy... It has the standard pitch & roll, but by twisting the stick you can control yaw. It also has about a dozen programmable buttons, a throttle and is ambidextrous. I plugged it in and FS recognized it... Even had some of the buttons pre-programmed in a logical manner. It was only forty bucks.

I find it harder to taxi the e-cub than a real champ. Good thing I don't have to pay for the e-wingtip bows... I'd be broke.

I'm assuming that I could buy the joystick at some point and then in the future if i purchased rudder pedals i could disable the yaw twisting function of the joystick in favor of setting up the pedals. Anyone know if this is a correct assumption? (I'm very computer literate but have not spent much time playing with joysticks and rudders rather programming, OS's, networking, databases, and the like) Eddy, happy birthday. I too purchased fs2004 recently, I've found that its very difficult to taxi any of the aircraft with a keyboard.

rrb,

I love flight simming. Though I suffer with the keyboard rudder, I have a cheap MS joystick that I fly with my right hand for cubs/champs, and with my left hand for cessnas, yoke controlled aircraft.

There are some good site out there to download aftermarket models. I have a nice stable of Maules, Super Cubs, Cessna taildraggers, Huskys, a Decathlon, Beavers, Otters, Fleet Canucks, etc...even a Nordwyn Norseman.

You can also download more detailed scenery for Alaska and the Yukon with lots of little airports and airstrips...really cool.

With a good imagination you can immerse yourself into a fantasy world of bush flying, with no additional operating costs or fuel It's nice.

Zane

PS: I saw a picture of some guy who had gone the cheap route on rudder pedals by poaching a $20 cheap joystick, ripping the stick off so just a nub was hangin out, and rigged some homemade pedals to the nub via string and a cheap pulley system. It reeked of Norman Rockwell go cart technology, but I imagine it worked. I have a pic somewhere...so funny.

Simming... I like that word. Thanks TripSlip.

On days like today, is the only option (25 gusting 40). It's beautiful outside, but WOW... Hold onto your a**, er, uh, hat.

Where did you find an aftermarket Super Cub model? Is it for FS 2004? Can you get aftermarket Super Cub Mods like bushwheels, Borer props, VG's & floats? Can I paint it to look like Cuby's?

i'd suggest looking for files at http://www.flightsim.com they have a good library for addon files. It gets a bit busy at times but you can normally get through without paying for a deluxe membership, by trying at different times. You have to register to get to the files, however, registration is free. I know that they had supercubs for previous versions and likely do on fs2004 as well. I haven't really looked into the realism on the addon aircraft but they're probably at least similar with respect to flight speeds.

My favorite sites for downloads are:

http://www.fsplanet.com
http://www.avsim.com
http://www.simviation.com

All are free, though while fsplanet has nice pictures, it's hard to get a connection to the servers because it's so busy. Avsim has great connection availability, but fewer pictures of the model. Just go to the file library and search for Super Cub.

Here is a great article by the Avsim guy: http://www.avsim.com/pages/1102/bush_adventures/bush_flying.html

The aircraft:
Note: FS2004 is backwards compatible with FS2002 aircraft, so load em up.

http://www.avsim.com/pages/1102/bush_adventures/bush_aircraft.html

Zane

I'm also active flight simmer(when i'm home) i use a syateck(sp?) Cyborg 3D or something like that. has all the goods, twist stick for yaw spring tension on the stick(doesn't seem like much but after 30 mins of flying a un-tirmmed plane it really starts to burn) and plenty of buttons for gear and flaps etc. oh yea also has throttle that is ambidextrous.

well thats just my 2 cents