The flightsimming market is almost becoming saturated with hardware add-ons that promise to bring the virtual flying experience that much closer to "as real as it gets." And while there are rich users who can boast speedy computers and desks littered with rudder pedals, yokes, multiple monitors, radio stacks, multiple-lever throttles, 3D glasses, head-movement panning devices, and whatnot, I imagine that many more users are having to get by with (gasp!) a mostly default flight simulator install on a below-average machine with just a keyboard and hopefully a decent joystick.

That's the position I currently find myself in, but I've learned to maximize the experience. In fact, when you put a little thought into it, it's amazing what you can do with a fairly ordinary joystick. This article is based on the Saitek Cyborg 3D Rumble Force. It was a bit of an investment, but it has become my personal favorite, and even offers a bit of force-feedback. The configuration below, however, will work on any joystick with a similar placement of buttons.

The joystick assignments outlined below are what ended up working best for me, and the movements came naturally almost right away. Most of the flying I do is in small, general aviation aircraft, to and from small, usually untowered airports. This means very little autopilot, a lot of pattern flying, a lot of checking left and right, and frequent adjustments of rudder, throttle, trim, fuel mixture, and use of differential brakes during taxi. I can now do all of this right on my joystick, without my eyes having to leave the screen to hunt for odd key combinations.

Because I like keeping my right hand free to operate the mouse and keyboard (for virtual cockpit and radio/GPS operations) I've become accustomed to flying the joystick with my left hand--another reason for choosing a Saitek model, as these are designed for both right and left hand use. So the profile you see here is a left-hand profile, but can easily be adapted to a right-hand one.

A - Pan View Left/Right. Perhaps the most revolutionary concept of this configuration is to change the assignment of the joystick "twist" function. By default, this axis is assigned to the rudder function. I assign it to "Pan View Left Right" instead. This means that I can fly in virtual cockpit mode and look around (and then center my view again) MUCH more quickly and naturally by twisting the joystick. In fact, I rarely use the hat-switch now, except for when I need to pan the view up or down. Flying patterns, locating the runway on crosswind and steering towards it properly, and then quickly centering my view to check instruments, then quickly glancing to the left again to verify position, is now painless and easy. You will want the sensitivity slider on this axis between about 75% and 90% (depending how far back you want to see when you twist the axis to its extremes) and the null zone set no lower than about 20%, as otherwise your view will shift with every slight movement of the joystick.

B - Throttle. This is the default assignment for this axis. (Another concept is to use the throttle axis as "elevator trim axis", and to assign the "trim up/down" buttons below to "throttle up/down" instead. This allows you to get a much better "feel" for the trim, and will also provide a visual cue of where your trim is set at any stage of flight.)

C - Left/Right Rudder. The other half of the revolutionary concept. Taxiing around airports become much easier using buttons to control the rudder instead of the twist function. (Set repeat rate to half on the assignments tab.) I have taxiied a real Cessna 172SP around an airport, and even made S-turns, and I was surprised to find out that turning (and even staying on the yellow line) was EASY in real life! The typical joystick twist-handle just has too short a range of motion and is generally too sensitive to allow for small, smooth adjustments. Using buttons for the rudder actually produces results that are much closer to "as real as it gets" even if it doesn't "feel" as real.

D - Center rudder/ailerons. Since we are using buttons to adjust our rudder, it becomes difficult to know when the rudder is properly centered. Since you'll want to be centering it quite frequently during most stages of flight, assigning the "trigger" button makes for a very natural and quick way to center the rudder again. (By default, this button releases the handbrake. But since that function is used at most a few times during flight, it is just as easy to use the "." key for this on your keyboard.)

E - Differential brakes. By using buttons 3 and 4 on the Saitek Cyborg as left and right brake, you can easily hit either brake separately (essential for taxiing taildraggers!) or both brakes together, while still being able to look around with the twist-axis view, and set radios or nav instruments with your other hand.

F - Fuel mixture enrich/lean. I fly left handed, so the two buttons on the left side are harder to reach during active flight. Since fuel mixture is something you need to adjust pretty frequently during flight, but is not something you constantly need to keep your hand on, using the two left buttons allows me to quickly adjust the fuel mixture when I'm not in the middle of a maneuver. Assign it so that the mixture lever in virtual cockpit view pushes in when you press the back button, and comes out when you push the front one.

G - Elevator trim up/down. As all serious flight-simmers know, you can't fly a private aircraft without using trim. In fact, in real flight you use the trim wheel almost more than any other control in the cockpit. So it makes sense to have the trim function available on your joystick in a place where you can get to it easily. If you use this joystick with your right hand, assign the trim function to the left side. If you fly with your left hand, like me, assign the trim functions to the right side. This way your non-joystick hand can quickly and easily find and adjust the trim. Assign it so that the trim wheel turns forward (elevator trim down) when you press the back button, and the wheel turns back (elevator trim up) when you press the front button.

There you have it. All the essential functions necessary to control a private aircraft (and to quickly see where you're going with it) during flight or taxi on ONE joystick. While there are lots of other functions you'll still have to use your keyboard or on-screen controls for (such as flaps, gear, parking brake, autopilot, radios, etc.) most of these functions are only used occasionally or even just once or twice during a flight. All the controls used most frequently during flight or taxi are right where your hand can easily find them.

It may not be as "real" or as fancy OUTSIDE the screen, but it's what you can see and experience ON the screen that counts. Your imagination will just have to fill in the rest. And imagination is a lot cheaper than hardware!

Mike Holland
capholland@hotmail.com