HOTAS dust-off


Today I finally installed my trusty old Saitec X-55 HOTAS set. I originally bought them for Elite Dangerous but I'd not played that title for at least two years. You can tell by the thick coating of dust which I will clean off, now that I know the set works.  I was disappointed that there wasn't a pre-configured profile available, this was a popular set, back in the day. That said, I watched a noted Flight Sim Youtuber, Squiral's Peripheral set up video and it explained a good workflow for getting controls configured -- from within the cockpit, going through configuring and setting the essential stuff first.


In fact, they were just too chunky for Leo. He's back to the XBOX 360 controller

I've been enjoying flying with an old wired Xbox 360 controller. It's compact, precise and does not clutter your desk up. However, there are some controls, such as the rudder which absolutely need an axis -- that is, you set a degree of rudder input. Where the Xbox controller's gives you a choice between 100% rudder and 0% rudder, the HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) Joystick lets you enter the amount of rudder that you need. Take-off no longer involved lurching and skidding as I can finally keep my nose straight. 

That said, I have a lot of configuring to do, although it will be great to get the more obscure stuff available without multi-key finger twisting.

Stuff that didn't make it as a Blog entry

Some of the flying I've been doing that didn't warrant its own blog entry. Lots of fun, some learning but nothing that I felt worthy of a write-up.

First night landing

From the highlands to Northern Ireland.

Washington

Not the best quality city, but pretty up-to-date. 

Gabon

Adventure in central Africa






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