It's been many moons since I last posted in RAS but sparing all a long
story which would place you in Z-Land forthwith as to the why of that, I
'rediscovered' my otherwise 10 year flight sim hobby and am getting back
into it ... slowly but surely. Ditto, after this, rec.av.piloting
because, unless things have changed, the majority of simmers I knew were
no stranger to the real McCoy SEL's and upwards with ATP types feeling,
as I do, that flight sims can have an excellent 'adjunct' value to the
real thing and it's [the sims] getting more sophisticated as time goes
on with sim 'avionics' offering practical tutorials on the real thing
not to mention scenarios of 'real thing' value! I even know a few of the
fraternity who 'admittedly' became, shall we say, overly dependent on
the CP ****table Garmin 'follow the birdie' moving map thing and, as a
down-side result, their VOR skills and quoting now, "went by the boards"
but where the sims greatly assisted in recapturing those VOR skills.
Anyway, if you're not on the nod already, my thing is the 'civvie' side
of flight sims [and the Cessna/Piper SEL for the real McCoy although not
recently for another long story ...] and while the CH yoke continues to
do service [the updated USB version] although I'll admit to having
recently ordered the new [NOT the one with the factory bug, the
[hopefully] fixed Series II units due in November] SAITEK yoke primarily
because of that 'metal' yoke pitch shaft versus the plastic CH yoke and
the tendency for the plastic shaft to 'stick' when only small movements
are needed and no matter what lubricant I put on the thing! The fun tho'
is the throttle attachments both the CH "throttle quadrant" I had been
using and, while waiting for the Saitek yoke, the Saitek 3 lever
throttle ... and which I like. But it's the same old story with the
throttle 'assignments' thing and while I [finally] have the savvy to do
the assignments and sensitivities thing, and perhaps it's just me, I
had terrible luck with the "throttle" in the "X-Axis" mode [as it comes
stock for the throttle!] because the plane I would be flying would see
the throttle lever [and subsequent engine sounds, et al] all over the
place and after fighting with the thing I finally used the "Z-Axis"
lever for the throttle and it's much smoother. Perhaps that was the way
to go all along, dunno! Now, has anyone else had this problem using the
stock X-axis? I mean the throttle [BOTH the CH and Saitek] comes stock
with the X-Axis as the throttle yet I've had a much smoother response
[complete idle to full throttle] using the Z-Axis lever. Any comments
would be appreciated including that I perhaps botched the throttle
assignments from the get-go! For 'whatever' reasons tho', the Z-axis
lever works best but I don't know why!
I usually don't use the MS 'stock' planes preferring those planes and
panels that the flight sim community have done as I consider them
superior [in some cases, VASTLY superior] to the stock MS stuff. For
example, for the DC-3 and going back as far as FS98, who else but the
Roy Chaffin, Bill Rambow and Jan Visser DC-3 creations [plural] for '98,
2K and 2K2! Or for FS2K on the jet side of things, Paul Golding's
magnificent MD-80 and that 'blue' 'adjustable lighting' panel. I mean I
don't necessarily knock the stock stuff [A voice: "Ohh yes you do!" ]
but I've found nothing that compares [even granting my sim hiatus for
about a year and change] to what the world-wide flight sim community
itself can and does produce be it planes, panels, avionics, scenery,
you-name-it with the "old reliable" FSNav in a league by itself although
I hear the FS-X version of same is not yet available but I have it for
all other versions of the MSFS.
Regards,
Doc Tony
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