First task we've to do is to create the look and feel of a super-yacht but without the expense and so we're looking for a throttle quadrant out left and a tiller to the right. To do this I shall be using a 'penny washer' to fit the base behind each joy-stick as both measure 50mm and the universe is on our side.
Transmitters come in Modes 1 or 2 depending on whether the throttle (and rudder) is mounted left and the joystick proper on the right, as here, though I rarely recall which is which. We've got it set up here as is common in the UK, although I seem to remember from our trip to NASA's Ames for the competition that in the US they do the opposite, except in San Fransisco where they tend to swing both ways.
Bizarrely by the time I'd finished with flying (Airbus at the time) I was more relaxed using a joy-stick on the left than on the right, despite being right-handed. Another thing I noted whilst involved in 'family days' on the simulator was that the average three-year old ~ possibly due Playstation ~ handled the airliner better than most of my studes.
What we need to do now ~ in the absence of either a laser-cutter or my cousin who has a 3-D printer ~ is cut a slot in the washers by drawing on the metalwork classes of Mr Powell, albeit with him looking on from that workshop in the sky*.
Once we do that the thrust lever on the left will only slide forward and back and the tiller to left and right; the former is graduated and the latter has a centering spring and returns to neutral upon release. Airbus pilots may wish to apply decals marked TOGA, MCT and REV... all of which are available on the website at exorbitant cost.
* Apologies to Mr Powell if he's still alive. To queries 'Is Mike Yarwood' Google adds 'dead'.
