Throttle no longer works on jet engines

Hi everyone! I'm as new as can be. I'm okay with computers but not with planes, and I bought MSFS 2020 for my dad, who is okay with planes but not with computers. English isn't my first language either, so please bear with me if I get some aviation terminology wrong!

My dad uses a Logitech HOTAS X52 Pro, and a few days ago he found that the throttle no longer works. Moving the physical lever has no effect on the simulated one. There are a few things we've noticed that make this even weirder:

• The problem only occurs in planes with a jet engine. In propeller planes, the throttle works as expected.
  
• The problem only occurs on the X52. The F2 and F3 keys on the keyboard (the default keys to increase/decrease throttle) do work as expected.
  
• The lever is bound to the throttle axis, and it does work on the options screen (moving it back and forth moves the bar as expected). The only place where it doesn't work is in-game using jet engines.
  

He doesn't know what he could have done to cause it, and I don't know what I could do to fix it (other than reinstalling the entire game and hoping that changes something).

A couple more pieces of info to help you narrow things down:

• We're on version 1.21.18.0.
  
• MSFS was installed from discs (so I assume it's the Microsoft Store version; definitely not Steam).
  
• I noticed multiple throttle axes on the options screen (throttle axis 1, 2, 3, 4), and I have tried to bind them to the lever, but that had no effect.
  
• It used to work before, even with jet planes.
  

I'm hoping this is an easy one for you - perhaps just a setting gone wrong that I haven't found - and not an obscure bug in the game that would require waiting for an update to fix.

I very much appreciate any help! :)

...I don't know what I could do to fix it (other than reinstalling the entire game and hoping that changes something)...

It would not be the first time a MSFS update has messed with user settings and I think this would be pointless to do.

I had a update change my parking brake assignment and had to reassign it again. Originally I assigned it to toggle the parking brake on/off and a update changed it to set brakes. Took me a while to figure out what was going on.

It might help to delete the current controller config and build up a new one rather than go to the trouble of reinstalling the whole sim.

Thanks for the replies!

I use a CH Flight Sim yoke with built-in throttle quadrant, my throttle command is "THROTTLE AXIS" and the assignment is "JOYSTICK L-AXIS Z". This moves all throttles on all planes with one throttle lever on the CH Flight Sim yoke.

That seems to be exactly our setup as well. The joystick also has a separate throtte level (it's this one), and the settings are the same as what you said (apart from language):

This used to work on all planes for my dad as well, and now for some reason it refuses to work on jet engines.

It might help to delete the current controller config and build up a new one rather than go to the trouble of reinstalling the whole sim.

Alright, I tried switching back to the default profile (without deleting the current one, but that should hopefully not matter). Everything else still worked (except for all controls being back to the default of course), but unfortunately, the throttle problem persisted.

I should also mention that I had briefly fixed it yesterday by pressing random buttons on the joystick, but this morning the issue was back. :confused:

I'm suspecting it's either a full-fledged bug, or something I don't know about how jet engines work that requires pressing some additional buttons (as I said, I have almost zero aviation knowledge).

Hello vvey,

I had the exactly same problem after the introduction of version 1.21.18.0. I have a throttle with one handle and used to bind that throttle to "throttle axis".

I found a solution somewhere on the internet. The problem is solved by binding the "throttle handle", to "throttle 1 axis" and again to "throttle 2 axis".

Hope it helps for your dad as well.

Thanks for the reply! I tried binding it to axis 1 and 2 as well (and also 3 and 4 for good measure), but unfortunately, that didn't change anything.

Nonetheless, it's very nice to know that we're not the only ones having this problem! :)

A couple more things I was able to figure out:

• It's not even all jet planes this happens on - it seems to only affect "Sonex Aircraft JSX-2 MGL Avionics" and "Bede BD-5J". Both of these are downloaded from the marketplace, if that means anything. (but they definitely did work before!)
  
• It's not that the input from the handle isn't recognized, but apparently it just resets it. When I press F2 and F3, the throttle works fine, then, when I move the handle on the joystick, the throttle immediately goes back to zero.
  

Again, even though the solution didn't work on this end, thanks for comfirming you've been having the problem as well! That makes me think it's some kind of bug in the latest version, and will hopefully be fixed soon.

Hello vvye,

Sorry to hear the solution did not work for your dad. Did you " unbind" the handle of your throttle quadrant from "throttle axis"?

I found the forum and thread where I got my solution. Maybe, if you read it, it triggers something I did not notice.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/lost-throttle-control-on-t16000-flight-stick-on-several-third-party-aircrafts/479466

Kind regards,

Roggeberg23

Thank you so much for the pointers, roggeberg23! It looks like everything's working now. :D

Did you " unbind" the handle of your throttle quadrant from "throttle axis"?

That's what I was missing! I tried binding axis 1 and axis 2, but for some reason I never tried to also unbind the regular throttle axis. Of course it's obvious in hindsight why I should have, but I wouldn't have thought of it if you hadn't pointed it out. :)

I found the forum and thread where I got my solution. Maybe, if you read it, it triggers something I did not notice.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/lost-throttle-control-on-t16000-flight-stick-on-several-third-party-aircrafts/479466

That explains a lot. Seems to be exactly what's happening on our end. The alternate bindings are a nice workaround until the issue is properly fixed then.

Thanks to everyone who offered help, and thanks again to roggeberg for pointing me in the right direction! I'll relay the news to my dad tomorrow morning; I'm sure he'll be delighted to hear it.