I got the Bendix King Style Avionics Set from Flight Illusion nearly three years ago. Embarrassingly, it was put on the shelf until I recently moved forward with my cockpit rebuilding project finally. What a ridiculous waste!
Followings are photos how they are assembled to the DIY rack made of wood. Continue reading
Accessories
586: Give the G Flight Yoke a 180° Mod
by Alexey Podrezov
After Logitech acquired Saitek, the entire Cessna Pro Flight line, including the highly praised Cessna Yoke, came to an end. Out of discontent with the limited 90-degree rotation on the long-existed G Flight Yoke, Alexey, the developer of FIP Toolkit and Customizer, decided to give it a 180° mod. Here’s the story.
After checking a few reviews on the existing flight simulator yokes on YouTube, I 
realized that my Logitech/Saitek G Flight Yoke needs to be modded.
The yoke’s rotation is limited to 90 degrees. I am not sure why Saitek decided to do it that way, but I wanted to have the proper rotation angle: 180 degrees, like on the professional yokes and on the real airplanes. So I bought a broken yoke (the main board seems to be fried) from a local guy and started to look for the ways to achieve my goal. Continue reading
582: USB 2.0 for FIP is still preferred
While the world is moving toward USB-C, many flightsim hardwares still only work properly with USB 2.0 standard. Logitech’s Flight Instrument Panel (FIP) is 
one of them. Steve Crouch sent me a comment for My Cockpit Rebuilding #14, saying that he wasn’t aware of that and so he had trouble with them before.
Yes, when choosing USB hubs or ports for FIP connections, the older 2.0 standard is still the preferred choice, disregarding the claim of downward compatibility in 3.0 standard. Continue reading
581: My Cockpit Rev #15 – FIP Cable Management
There are 12 FIPs in my system, and the two USB hubs they plugged in are placed closely. As the cables coming with the FIPs are quite long, heavy and hard to bend, they are troubles everytime I want to tidy them up properly.
They have been headaches to me for a long time until I finally figured out how to deal with these cables recently. Continue reading
580: My Cockpit Rev #14 – Yoke Position Mod
After the FIP Adaptation mod yesterday, I found the protruding placement of the Alpha Yoke particularly eyesoring, since it is hard to cope with the other Saitek / Logitch panels as reported in my review for the yoke.
Of course, to those Alpha Yoke owners who don’t have any Logitech panel, it is not a problem at all. But it is to me. Here’s how how I got ride of this eyesore earlier this morning. And it was pretty easy. Continue reading
579: My Cockpit Rev #13 – FIP Adaptation Mod
As stated in the Alpha Yoke review earlier, the “extended” FIP adaptation approach makes it even harder for users to access switches on the face-plate.
Here’s my correctional modification so as to place the FIP stack backward a bit behind the bracket-mount of the Alpha yoke. Continue reading
577: What I Dislike in HoneyComb Alpha Yoke Part 3
…continued from Part 2
FIP Adaptation
If my memory is correct, there were mentionings in Honeycomb’s earliest news that the designer(s) of the Alpha yoke had Saitek backgrounds. Probably he is (or they 
are). Because not only the yoke has a shadow of Saitek counterparts but it also comes with a bracket mount to accommodate various Saitek or Logitech Pro Flight Panels. This is not found on other brands.
No matter where the designer is from, as an owner of many Saitek/Logitech flightsim gears, the “adaptability” is a sure winner. However, I wish the adaptation could be done with more thoughts. Continue reading
576: What I Dislike in HoneyComb Alpha Yoke Part 2
…continued from Part 1
Switches on the Body
I must say that integrating battery, avionics, lights and magneto switches to the yoke is a brilliant user-friendly features. However, I am a little disappointed because the switches on it are only basics and are not as feature-rich as those on my VRInsight Flight Master Yoke II.
Moreover, the magneto switches on the Alpha yoke are moved to the right, which is a bit odd to my eyes. Continue reading
575: What I Dislike in HoneyComb Alpha Yoke Part 1
The HoneyComb Alpha Yoke, I believe, is one of the hottest flightsim gears these 
days. I got mine in February and it is the sixth yoke I got — from the very first Saitek Yoke (2007), to the CH Eclipse Yoke (2011), Saitek Cessna Yoke (2012), VRInsight Flight Master Yoke II (2014), and the last VirtualFly Yoko Yoke (2018). It’s no surprise that none of them is perfect, but surely each one has something good to praise.
You may have seen other reviews about the good and bad of the HoneyComb Alpha Yoke. By no means to lower the product, followings are just the things I dislike from a user’s standpoint — both objectively and subjectively. Continue reading
FS Times 