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Thrustmaster controllers


nightowl56

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So why are their Thrusmaster "controlers" always with the throttle on the left and stick on the right.....why not make it so that you can change the position to fly from the "capt. seat?

 

As a general rule, a "stick" is on the lateral centerline of the pilot's body, and held in the right hand. The throttle is usually on the pilot's left, on the left side panel, about the longitudinal centerline of the pilot's body. The pilot normally doesn't let go of the stick to actuate the various switches and controls in the cockpit, once he has the cockpit properly set up for the mission assigned.

 

The point of the HOTAS setup, which, at least among military pilots, on the QT is pronounced Hot-A$$, not Hotaws the official military PR would have you believe, is so that the pilot never has to take his hands off the stick and throttle once the plane is in the air, most especially once it's actually performing the mission. Since military fighters are either single seat or tandem seat dual, the normal set up us stick in the center, throttle on the left. No "captain/copilot" set-ups. Pilot/RIO (or WIZZO) set-ups.

Yes, the F-16, and I believe a couple of others, uses a side-stick-controller, but it's still a "stick in the right hand, throttle in the left" set up.

 

The civilian versions of side-stick-controllers are on the side wall of the cockpit, captain's on the left, copilot's on the right, throttles in the center. However, they don't use the HOTAS concept. They not only have two available side-by-side pilots, so one releasing the controller to actuate switches and controls is not as big a deal as it is in a military plane, but they don't have the pressures of a military flight profile, in which HOTAS is so beneficial. IOW, they don't have the HOTAS setup, which the Thrustmaster is set up to imitate.

 

The Thrustmaster controllers are, in theory, a military style HOTAS set-up, hence, stick in the right hand, throttle in the left, and once the cockpit controls, switches, and so on, are properly set up and the plane is flying, they are not released. They don't duplicate, or imitate, the civilian side-stick-controller set up. In theory, they don't even imitate the military side-stick-controller.

 

A side-stick, by the way, generally doesn't move physically, either. It responds the pressure applied to it. The greater the pressure, the greater the sensed deflection sent to the computers that are actually flying the plane. The Thrustmaster actually moves physically, like a "normal" stick.

 

Does that answer your question in a long-winded, excessively verbose, way? :p ;)

Pat☺

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Had a thought...then there was the smell of something burning, and sparks, and then a big fire, and then the lights went out! I guess I better not do that again!

Sgt, USMC, 10 years proud service, Inactive reserve now :D

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I think real world sidestick in the wall setup, like in the A320 etc, is a terrible concept. And should be changed.

 

In B737 style cockpits the copilot can see what the other is doing.

And when copilot grabs wheel to take over this can't go unnoticed by the captain, who then releases his yoke.

 

But in airbus type cockpits, each pilot has no idea what the other is doing. There have been several crashes and near-crashes because both pilots were using their side-stick at the same time. One pulling and one pushing for example.

In that situation the inputs cancel each other out. So a pilot is pulling the stick, nothing happens, and he looses 'feel' for the plane. He no longer understands why the plane does what it does. Leading to a loss of control.

 

I do see the argument for using a stick. But if it is a "2pilots side by side" cockpit, put the sticks in front of the pilots. That way each pilot can see what their colleague is doing at a glance.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
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In my opinion, and we all know what those are good for, aircraft should be flown with a stick, CARS should be driven with a wheel, and never the twain shall meet.

A stick is much more intuitive for aircraft. The plane goes, hopefully, in the direction the stick does. A car goes where you turn the wheel, but the addition of the third dimension of movement available makes the stick the choice.

 

But then, I learned to fly with a stick in gliders. Once I got the basics down, pull back, the houses get smaller, etc, it just felt like a completely natural method of controlling the aircraft. The next year, when I learned to drive, the wheel was the natural way to make those machines go where I wanted. I had no desire to pull on the wheel to go up or anything like that.

Then, when I transitioned to powered craft, the yoke concept just felt wrong somehow to me. Especially from the left seat. A pilot controls his craft with his right hand, to me. A yoke on the left side of the plane makes the pilot use his left hand, and I had a heck of a time with that. I kept trying to use my right hand. Drove the instructor nuts. He finally stuck me in the right seat and left me there. I even solo'd from the right seat. I'd try to hold the yoke between my knees, too, like you can with a stick, but that doesn't work at all! :p

Glider I learned in didn't have trim, so if I needed to do something with my right hand, a very rare event, I could tuck the stick between my knees for a second.

 

Thus, to me, the Thrustmaster setup is a good, natural way to do things. Stick in the middle, held with the right hand, everything else important on the left, and operated with the left hand. Natural, to me.

 

However, like I said, all this is just my opinion...

Pat☺

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Had a thought...then there was the smell of something burning, and sparks, and then a big fire, and then the lights went out! I guess I better not do that again!

Sgt, USMC, 10 years proud service, Inactive reserve now :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

In typical Airbus side-stick implementations, the sticks are independent. The plane's computer either aggregates multiple inputs or a pilot can press a "priority button" to lock out inputs from the other side-stick.

When Pilot Observing (PO) takes over from the Pilot Flying (PF) or vice versa, he/she presses the "Priority" button.

 

 

Bob

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