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Note: click on any of the pictures to view a full size version of the same image.
ny time a product can
be added to my flight simulator that enhances its reality and
accuracy, I feel the educational & entertainment value can more than
justify the cost. Flight pedals are a critical control component of
your aircraft which are used more often in the most critical periods
of flying - landings, takeoffs, and times of uncoordinated flight
such as slips. Not to mention trying to recover from an unexpected
spin. Therefore, when I took on the task of doing a review of
Precision Flight Controls (PFC) new Cirrus Pedals - I
took the task seriously. After all, when a plane goes down in my
simulator, the Virtual FAA Investigator will want to know if it was
pilot error or equipment failure that caused the mishap.
The product arrived via UPS Ground in a cardboard box 17" high and
20" on each side. Inside, the fully assembled pedals rested on a 1"
thick base of corrugated cardboard and had been tucked into the box
with more than 30 pieces of bubble pack. As I expected after seeing
the packaging, a close examination of the Cirrus Pedals revealed no
shipping damage of any kind.Included in the box I found a 6' molded cable with male DB-15 connectors on each end. A 4" Ribbon 'Y' cable was also included. This cable had a male DB-15 connector on one end (which connects to the female connector on the back of the Cirrus Pedals) and two female DB-15 connectors on the other end. (One side connects to the 6' molded cable going to the game port of the computer and the other to the yoke or joystick).
This concluded the unpacking, inspection and inventory of what was shipped. As hard as I searched for documentation, a manual or software of some kind, none had been included in the shipment. A phone call later that day to PFC cleared this up. Documentation had not been completed at the time I received the product, and the pedals didn't require any type of drivers or test & adjustment programs that were not all ready available. However, the Cirrus Pedals virtually have nothing to adjust.
The biggest reason for this impression was the construction. It
consists of aluminum cast pedals, black aluminum base with the rest
of the parts being 3/16" steel. There were no plastic parts to be
found in this design. The pedals themselves (or foot rests if you
will) are designed by PFC, have a powder coating, and are molded in
the shape of real aircraft pedals. They are mounted with a tiller bar
arrangement for accuracy after the design of a Russian Yak Trainer.
Using two tempered steel springs this arrangement gives both pedals
equal movement and pressure with greater self-centering ability. Each
pedal is also hinged with a tempered spring in each side controlling
the toe brakes. Electronic momentary switches are mounted behind the
tops of the pedal to provide separate signals for the activation of
either toe brake. The idea of having real braking action in my
simulator really perked my interest.
A 15 pin female connector (game port connector) is mounted to a steel plate located on the backside of the pedals. Above the connector a toggle switch is mounted to the same plate. There was no indication as to what the switch was for or what it was suppose to do. Because I had an early version of the pedals, the guys at PFC did not have the time to silkscreen the labels onto this unit. However, as indicated by phone from PFC, the switch position didn't matter in the case of Microsoft Flight Simulator, which is what I was using for the test.
The black base measures 16" wide by 19.5" long with a 1.5" L shaped
flange that rests on the floor. This flange has two rubber feet in
each side for protecting floors that might be tiled or hardwood.
Removal of these rubber feet leaves four holes through the metal for
more permanent mounting. On the underside of the flange on each side
is a wide strip of Velcro which keeps the pedals in place during use
on rug surfaced floors. I found this very useful. My pedals didn't
slide at all during use, however I highly recommend mounting the
pedals to the floor if possible. Although they do not slide, when
using the toe brakes mine would lift in the front with very little
effort on my part. I have mine resting on a carpeted floor and had to
find a way to secure the pedals from the top. If the base was a
little wider I could have slide the flange on one side under the feet
of my desk holding it in place. However, the pedals extend out over
the base as well as the flange on either side. This caused them to
hit on the desk not allowing for free movement. My only solution was
to secure the pedals with a board from under the desk down onto the
flange behind the full travel of the pedal. It worked. However, PFC
informed me that future designs would not have the L shape flange on
the sides of the base. Instead it will be tucked under the base.
Their decision was made after considering size, weight, and shipping
costs as some of the factors.
Once at Fitchburg Municipal airport in Fitchburg Massachusetts, Bill Ogert the lead flight instructor at Fitchburg Colonial Aviation was kind enough to assist me while we checked several different aircraft on the flight line. We took pictures and made key measurements for comparisons of real pedals to the flight simulator counter parts. We also added the measurements from the ATC-710 IFR Flight Trainer which he uses for instruction at the school. After I completed the task at Fitchburg, we jumped into a Cessna and I flew over to Hanscom Field where they had a Frasca 141 Flight Simulator used for training at Executive Flyers Aviation (EFA) flight school. The following chart shows our findings.
| Pedal Type | Pedal Width | Pedal Height | Height Off Floor | Pedal Travel | Spacing | Picture |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATC-710 | 5" | 3" | 4.75" | 4" | 9" |  |
| FRASCA 141 | 5.25" | 6" | 5" | 2" | 2.25" |  |
| Cessna 152 | 5.25" | 6.25" | 5" | 2.25" | 1.5" |  |
| Cessna 172 | 5.25" | 6.25" | 4.75" | 2.25" | 1" |  |
| Piper Warrior | 5" | 6.5" | 4.25" | *Note | 1.5" |  |
| Piper Aztec II | 5.25" | 5" | 4.25" | *Note | 2.25" |  |
| Cirrus Pedals | 5" | 6" | 4.5" | 1.5" | 5" | |
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connected via rods which didn't allow me to measure the travel. |
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After doing the comparison on real aircraft and flight simulators approved by the FAA and used by actual flight schools, I was even more convinced that the people at PFC did their homework when it came to the design of these pedals. The results speak for themselves. It wasn't long before I was back home removing my little plastic friends and replacing them with the real thing. Bringing the learning and entertainment value even closer to actual flight.
Setup was fast. Less than five minutes to connect the 4" Y shaped
ribbon cable to the connector on the back of the pedals. Next I
connected the six foot molded cable from the ribbon cable to the game
port, and then connected the cable from the Yoke controls to the
other female end of the ribbon cable. That was it, I positioned my
chair, and started up Microsoft Flight Simulator.The Cirrus Pedals felt great. Just like the pedals in a real plane. The tension was just right and you could feel the solid strength behind them. As you applied pressure to one side of the tiller bar, the design immediately allowed you to feel the backpressure on the other pedal just like the pedals controlling the rudder in a real plane. With my heels on the base, the movement allowed the pedal to roll on the ball of my foot giving me precision and control I have never felt on my simulator.
The toe brake motion was just as real although the tension was a bit strong. Those tempered steel springs certainly do the job. I had to lift my feet up onto the pedals in order to apply the brakes. This meant taking my heels off the base. Although this feels a little funny, it is exactly what I have to do in a real plane when applying the brakes. Mike, at PFC, told me the people at the last Oshkosh event beat the heck out of the brakes while using the pedals. He said it was like they were trying to stop a 747. The pedals did fine though, no problems, they just kept taking the beating. This gives you one of the reasons PFC uses these pedals in their professional line of products even though they offer a much more expensive set.
I got thinking about what Mike said and realized that in a real aircraft, the harder I push the faster I stop. This tends to be habit for people who are flying real planes, so in a simulator if you touch down a little too fast you automatically think you're going to correct it by pushing on the brakes all the harder. Then there is always that pilot who feels he has to make the first taxiway available after touchdown. Pressing harder on the brakes in a flight simulator won't help and it's a good thing to try and remember. But it's also a great thing to know your pedals will handle it regardless of how excited the virtual pilot gets.
Setup was very straightforward. As explained by PFC there are no software drivers with the pedals, and because Windows 95 does not offer PFC products on the joystick menu in the control panel, I used the CH Virtual Pilot selection from the menu. Calibration went fine and I was ready for the first test flight. For diagnostic purposes I might mention that all the programs written for the CH Products, such as those in CH_PEDALS.ZIP and PROPED.ZIP, work with the Cirrus Pedals. Remember you don't have to worry about any adjustments with these pedals, that's all taken care of by the nature of its design.
Operation of the pedals was as I expected, flawless. With my feet off the pedals, and my throttle at a taxi rpm setting, the C-172 tracked straight down the centerline at Meigs field in Chicago. I worked the pedals back and forth and the plane reacted with accuracy and precision. By using the ball of my foot on the pedal and my heels on the base, I could get much more precise with these pedals than ever before. The best part of all was the strange "left hook" problem a lot people (including myself) have had with FlightSim 6.0. It was gone. No amount of setup or changing or calibration could make that problem going away on my machine. The problem drove me back to using FlightSim 5.1 again, as many others have done and yet, with the new Cirrus Pedals, the problem was gone.
After a full Virtual FAA investigation, it was determined that the PFC Cirrus Pedals toe brakes do not work with Microsoft Flight Simulator versions 5.1 or 6.0. It seems that the left brake pedal activates Button 3 on the game port and the right brake activates Button 4 on the game port. Activating both at the same time caused the view zoom factor to drop to .25, which is what gave me the distorted view. Most of this action was caused by the use of the CH Software patches used with the Virtual pilot in FS 5.1. But even without it, the Microsoft Flight Simulator products do not recognize these buttons as brakes. In fact, Microsoft looks for the brake control on Button 1 of Joystick 1. I verified that this indeed was true from Mike at PFC. He noted that they had designed it to support the use of brakes with the instrument flight training software from ELITE. (By the way, the virtual FAA ruled the accident was "pilot error" due to the fact that I left the ground knowing I had faulty equipment).
After realizing the limitations (and getting another aircraft) I soon took to the air again to test the use of the pedals in flight. Knowing this time not to use the brakes while in flight. The flight went without a hitch. I was able to practice ground maneuvers like never before. I pointed my left wing at the top the Sears building a half mile out with twenty-knot winds coming off Lake Michigan. All four points of the turn were coordinated beautifully with these pedals. S-turns, figure eights, and slips on final were just as precise as in a real plane.
An added bonus with these pedals that I was not expecting was the lack of adverse reactions in the simulator due to transitions in the electronics used in the controls. For instance, when you release the pedal from being in a deep slip that required hard left or right rudder, low quality resistors in the design will cause the values at the game port to jump erratically. (I have experienced it with my other pedals, and it only gets worse with time as the pedals wear out.) In turn the simulator will try to update the screen accordingly, causing the view on your screen to jump or flicker unrealistically for a second while the transition is being made. The components in the Cirrus Pedals are high enough tolerance that I didn't see any of those problems while using the pedals.
I couldn't resist a look at the electronics behind the back plate
where the connector and switch are mounted. Once I removed this
plate it reveled an elegantly simplistic design. Two switches (toe
brakes), one 100k ohm slider resistor (rudder control), and one 15
pin connector (game port connector). I even took an ohm meter and
measured the resistance of the slider to see how close it was to
actual values. It was within .0002 percent accuracy on the low end
and .0016 percent accuracy on the high end. Even though PFC could
have gotten away with a lot more margin of error (in other words,
using much lower grade components letting the user calibrate the
error out through the software) it was obvious they did not.After looking at the wiring to the switch in the back I could quickly see that this switch was used to invert the action of the toe brakes. In other words in once position pressing on a toe brake will give you +5 volt signal and in the other position the activation of the toe brake pulls the signal to ground. The two toe brake switches sent signals to pins 14 & 10 on the game connector.
Email: info@flypfc.com
Web: www.flypfc.com
Phone: 916-638-1310
FAX: 916-638-1426