A joystick is normally used to operate two axes simultaneously, controlling pitch and roll of an aircraft. The most common design for flight simulator joysticks is normally a gimbal design, where one axis is gimballed around the other, allowing a single joint for both axes.
And then you have the control wheel type controllers, often referred to as a ‘yoke’ or ‘control column’.
Although there’s no absolute distinction for their use, the control wheel/yoke/control column are not usually found in fighters.
However, many fighter aircraft have a split axis design, sort of a hybrid between a joystick and a control column. I struggle with coming up with a proper name for it…? Maybe someone can help me out here…? [slowly turning my head, looking at @TheAlmightySnark]. It’s like a one handed control wheel…
I looked through my DCS hangar and came up with quite a few aircraft that has a stick, controlling roll, on top of a base that controls pitch.
There are obvious advantages to this.
- Your thighs will not interfere with roll input as much.
- Ease of construction.
In a flightsimulator rig like my SimBox, where I have a floor mounted stick, these are desireable advantages and I’d like to try and make me a ‘split stick’.
Stay tuned…
