Purpose Driven Joystick Bindings: Takeoff & Landing, A-G mode, NAV, Air to Air ...
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I had an idea that seemed kind of new to me and it might work well for all the different flight or space flight simulators. I’m not sure if we can do it in falcon but it might be a potentially cool way to setup a joystick.
I was wondering if there is any way that I could set up the joystick buttons to allow several layers of joystick setups to exist and be flipped through while in flight as the pilot needs them.
Example while taking off or landing I might need flaps, trim, brakes, nose wheel steering etc. Would it be possible to set up the controllers to go into a mode where I could press some keys that would alter my joystick buttons to a specific setup and then switch to like nav mode where I might use the same buttons for tms up and down buttons instead of flaps and trim etc. Then switch over to Air to Air or Air to Ground. The joysticks have a lot of buttons but it we could like switch into commonly used sub-modes to reassign our joystick in flight it would be fairly easy to bulk out the abilities of a low button joystick. An 8 button joystick could become an unlimited button joystick by using a sub-mode system.
I was thinking like CAPS LOCK on and off plus the insert, delete, home, end, page up, page down would potentially be like 6 different modes that could be used with CAPS LOCK on without loosing their original binding with caps lock off.
Caps lock+ home = takeoff and landing
Caps lock + End could be NAV
Caps lock + Delete could be Air to Ground
Caps lock + Page Down could be Air to airThen there would be room for two other modes for certain situations/ missions.
It is just a cool idea that ran through my head this week.
If anyone knows a way to make this work please share it with me. It would be awesome to develop as a concept and use on my low button joystick setup.
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@Additional-Cats shift-layers are a thing … BMS only offers 1 dx-shift layer … some other flights sims offer more
making them “sticky” is an interesting idea! also could help solve for the “different jet different hotas” problem (F-18, F-15 etc)
practically speaking, you’d have to do some serious vJoy/Gremlin scripting to make this work for BMS
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@Additional-Cats - there was a REALLY good Mac utility for doing this sort of thing called ControllerMate…that unfortunately does not work with the latest Mac OS releases…
…but when it did, just one of the things I used to do with it for FAF Mac was swap my Trim hat between TRIM and POV via HOTAS key combinations. Another thing I did with it was make proportional brakes by making the key repeat rate for Brakes proportional to my pedal throw.
So yeah - this is a great idea…shift layers are a way to go, a utility is even better.
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I thought of asking in this old thread instead of making new one about flaring when landing. Does the term “flaring” refer to keeping the nose up only before landing? meaning when the nose is kept up after touchdown to induce aerodynamic breaking can one still use the term flaring ? (as in flaring after touch down to put aerodynamic effect at work)
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@Alfred
You flare just before you touchdown by gently pulling back on the stick. If you time it correctly you will land lightly on your gear. -
@Carbide - with a jet there’s another way of doing this - my Test Pilots call it a “Navy flare”, but it works very nicely with any jet instead of a traditional flare, which relies on manipulating AOA with your nose.
What you do is to hold attitude and push the power up just before touchdown to arrest the sink rate, and snap it to idle as soon as the wheels are on the deck. Aerobrake during rollout as usual.
It took me a little practice to get it, but now that I have it’s the only way I land the Viper.
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@Alfred The Flare is a “simple” Technique, that most Pilot’s, if not all, spend their entire lives trying to perfect.
Depending on the Size, Weight, Balance of the Aircraft. Wind Speed and Direction. The Flare can happen anywhere from 5Ft(light AC) to 30Ft (Heavy) above the Runway. (Cessna to 747) Flare too high and you float. Too low and you will drive the Main Landing Gear into the pavement. 74 Gear shows a great 747 where he flare’s too late.
Fighters on the other hand, Navy especially. Drive them in. Set AoA and use power to ease the touchdown. As previously stated.
The perfect touchdown depends entirely on the flare.
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Thank you for the replies.
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@Stevie
I have done that when I don’t have very good control of my sink rate. I push up the throttle to reduce the sink rate so I don’t slam into the rubway but I never thought I should or could use it as a flare maneuver. I will give it a try.
