When Microsoft, after a decade-long hiatus, relaunched its 40-year-old Flight Simulator series in 2020, it reignited interest in a genre that had long been a mainstay of PC gaming. However, it’s one thing to marvel at the graphics of the new Flight Simulator and another to try to play the game with a mouse and keyboard, or Xbox controller. Few games benefit from custom hardware as much as flight sims, and while you don’t have to go all out, at the very least, you’ll want basic. HOTAS style joystick. The next step up from there is a set of dedicated flight controls, throttles, and rudders. The best-known names here are Logitech, with its Affordable Flight Yoke System, CH Eclipse and Flight Sim forks and throttlesTurtle Beach’s all-in-one VelocityOneand honeycomb Alpha Flight Controls XPC and Bravo throttle quadrant.
In the past, I’d only used an old joystick to play Flight Simulator, so when Honeycomb asked me to try their system (which, in the XPC version, is now Xbox-compatible as well), I had a hard time turning down. At over $550 for the yoke and throttle, we’re talking a serious investment here, and once you get started you’ll be tempted to get a set of rudder pedals, too. But in exchange, you get some very solid hardware that will allow you to take your flight simulation experience to the next level.
Image Credits: TechCrunch/Frederic Lardinois
I’ve tested these controls with both Flight Simulator and the recently released X-Plane 12, both of which are supported out of the box. I should add that I mainly fly single-ended piston aircraft, so I stuck with that in my testing as well, although the Brave throttle quadrant also comes with all the sticks and options for twin-engine aircraft.
In fact, it is perhaps the throttle dial that changed my experience with the flight simulator the most. It features a total of six sticks and you can configure it for general aviation flight or to handle commercial aircraft with up to four engines and thrust reversers. The sticks are pretty easy to switch if you tend to switch between those different modes. A nice feature here is that you can also change the tension level (using a knob on the side of the dial) to your liking.
Obviously, that’s what you’d expect from a throttle quadrant, but for me the game changers in everyday use were actually the dedicated trim wheel, flap levers and autopilot controls. I’ve always had a harder time trimming planes in Flight Simulator using the buttons on my joystick, but the combination of the yoke, which requires some force to pull and push, and the trim wheel make the experience much more natural. The dedicated flap switch helps here too, and being able to control the autopilot makes all the difference. I don’t know about you, but using my mouse to try and set headings and altitudes in the 3D cockpit never worked right for me. Now, with its dedicated (and backlit) buttons and knobs, I use it a lot more.
Do I wish the design was more like the Garmin GFC 500 I’m used to on the planes I fly? Sure, but this layout is pretty easy to get used to, and the functionality is essentially the same, and using it doesn’t take me out of the simulation experience. And that’s really what this is all about: being able to focus on the sim in front of you and not having to mess around with mouse and/or keyboard shortcuts.
The throttle dial also features an annunciator panel with 14 warning lights for some of the more typical faults and seven programmable switches. By default these are set to control the lights on your plane, but since the yoke has those switches as well, I used one for the handbrake and mostly ignored the rest (although I’ve seen people use it to control some of the most advanced). functions of their models).
Image Credits: TechCrunch/Frederic Lardinois
The yoke is just as sturdy as the throttle dial and features plenty of buttons to manage your flight sim experience. On the left handle, you’ll find an eight-way hat switch that by default controls your sights, a push-to-talk button, and two two-way vertical rockers (which by default are set to control your trim). On the right handle, there are two horizontal rocker switches and two buttons. There are also five switches to control the lights and four to control the electrical system. And to round it all out, there’s a five-position ignition switch so you can properly simulate starting your engine (and test your magnetos during warm-up, of course).
As I noted earlier, it takes a bit of force to pull the self-centering yoke back (or push it in) all the way. If you’ve ever flown a Cessna and tried to keep the front wheel off the runway during a soft-field landing, it’s a bit like that. But that also means that you will end up trimming the plane like in real flight simply because you will get tired of working with the yoke. It’s all about that immersion, after all.
There is a red LED backlight that makes the honeycomb panel glow red. If that’s not your thing, you can dim the light a bit or turn it off completely.
Image Credits: Honeycomb
One thing to note, Honeycomb offers two mounting options: clamps or a 3M micro suction cup. That pad will lose its strength after a while (although you can buy replacements) but they work pretty well. However, I think most people will go with the clamps. They’re pretty easy to work with and while using the pads is probably a bit quicker, setting everything up with the clamps is also a minute’s job, and then everything is guaranteed to stay in place. However, the entire setup takes up a lot of space.
To use these controllers on the Xbox, you will need Honeycomb’s $40 Xbox hub. There really isn’t much to say here about that. It works as advertised and turns the Xbox version of Microsoft’s Flight Sim into a much more complete simulation of navigating with your wireless controller.
When using the yoke and throttle, I kept missing my rudder pedals (I eventually grabbed my old Logitech ones and set them up). You can set the flight simulator to handle the rudder for you, but where’s the fun in that? (It won’t help you during taxi, takeoff, or crosswind landings anyway.) Honeycomb has its Charlie Rudder Pedals in the works and currently available for pre-order but are also $350. i dusted off my old Thrustmaster T-Flight Pedals to use in combination with the Honeycomb configuration. That worked like a charm.
Given the price, you better know if you really like flight sims or not before you buy it. If so, then it’s a worthwhile expense if you can afford it. If flight simulators aren’t your thing, then you probably haven’t read this far anyway.
There’s a third class of potential buyers here: students working on their pilot’s license. I think it is not yet known if a simulator will help you with that. There’s a good chance that without your flight instructor, you’ll pick up some bad habits that you’ll then have to unlearn the expensive way, while paying for your real-world lessons. Also, a lot of flying is about getting a feel for what the plane is doing and how the engine sounds, something you won’t get from a simulator. But as always, talk to your friendly neighborhood CFI and discuss your needs with them.
