It is. And it works really well. My only caution is that the twist and button-press action of the levers seems a little thin, like it will wear out with a lot of repeated use. Oh, forgot to mention the flap lever is really nice, too - works as both a momentary button and/or an axis. And love the throttle friction adjustment. When paired with a properly-set axis curve (not the default 172 one, where the default physical idle throw range is WAY too wide), it really feels like you’re giving it the juice.
1 Like
Interesting. I looked at these a while back but dismissed because they only do analog sensed by a pot.. I’m after an encoder based trim wheel so it behaves nicely with autopilot operation.
I agree that optimally they should be continuous encoders. What I like about these Gear Falcon trim wheels is the position indicator and the overall hefty feel - it feels like you’re moving a trim wheel. It also has strong physical stops so you don’t overtorque the pot.
For those not in the know, the whole autopilot/trim issue is problematic for several reasons:
In the sim, many planes autopilots control pitch primarily by trim instead of primary control surfaces (elevators). This is not always accurate to reality. In fact, some real-world autopilots don’t control trim at all.
However, the physical control in our simpit doesn’t move along with the in-sim autopilot trim input, so this creates a gap between where the sim has the trim and where the physical control has it.
But there’s no indicator in the sim that allows us to match our physical trim before releasing the autopilot. This means after autopilot is disconnected, as soon as we touch the trim wheel, the trim in the sim snaps to the position of the physical trim control. This can be intense and lead to overstress and/or loss of control.
To overcome this, an encoder could be used so that trim actuates incrementally (similar to button presses) instead of positional (like an axis), thus the position of the encoder doesn’t matter - the next time you move it it either increments or decrements the trim position. However, what I’ve observed is that axis-like control with an analog wheel is more precise. Either way, sensitivity can be modified with control curves or other external programs.
The other downside to most encoders is that most on the market don’t have a position indicator like many aircraft do, so you have to look in the sim to see where the wheel is at. If they do have a position indicator, you’ll have to bind it to the trim position in the sim somehow, which I don’t believe is native to the sim - you’d need something like SPAD.next.
The downside to an analog wheel, as said earlier, is the physical gap. Also that it has the aforementioned physical stops at each end of it, which may or may not allow throw ranges that match a real aircraft.
What I’d really like to see is a control variable added that makes it so an analog trim wheel has no effect on the in-sim position until it moves through the current in-sim position. It in essence “wakes up” once you move it through. Many modern musical virtual synthesizers have this feature with regard to attached keyboard controllers and their respective analog or digital rotary knobs. There’s no reason this can’t be implemented in the sim. Someone with the right mindset and coding ability could easily program that.
Here’s my current trim wheel setup:
2 Likes
I’ll have to check that one out. Thank you.
1 Like
You can use an LED bar graph for the range of trim, combined with an encoder wheel.
Not difficult in Mobiflight - clamp the max and min values. Then set the LED bar graph to whatever trim the autopilot chooses.
Some modern airliners don’t have wheels. They have an up/down control I think.
Made a trim with this, based on MAX7219 and 48 leds inside (bi-color red and green, yellow when both colors on)
2 Likes
It looks great. Do you control it with Mobiflight?
Mostly manageable using Air Manager in SiMessagePort mode, though I guess Mobiflight would be able to handle the Holtek HT16K33 using I2C
Currently on Pico RP2040, was also on Uno and Leonardo previously
An extract of the INO sketch :
#include <si_message_port.hpp>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_GFX.h>
#include “Adafruit_LEDBackpack.h”
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include “hardware/adc.h”// Set I2C bus to use: Wire, Wire1, etc.
#define WIRE Wire// Pi Pico SCL = GPIO5
// Pi Pico SDL = GPIO4
// Leonardo SCL = SCL
// Leonardo SDL = SDLint intvalue = 0;
int val_backup = 0;
float floatvalue = 0;
int valkey = 0;
int savekey = 0;
byte valadc = 0;
/*const uint8_t USER_KEY = 24;
const uint8_t LED_STATUS = 25;
const uint8_t ADC0_INPUT = 26;
const uint8_t LED_DATA_PIN = 23; // data pin to NeoPixels. On chinese 4mb pico gpio 23 is used for the on board WS2812B
const uint8_t NUM_LEDS = 1; // how many LED (neopixels) in total ?
*/
const int USER_KEY = 24;
const int LED_STATUS = 25;
const int ADC0_INPUT = 26;
const int LED_DATA_PIN = 23; // data pin to NeoPixels. On chinese 4mb pico gpio 23 is used for the on board WS2812B
const int NUM_LEDS = 1; // how many LED (neopixels) in total ?
@PilotJedi688, here’s addition on Mobiflight side, which shows we can add custom devices :
3 Likes
I recently made a trim wheel for my current simpit (I describe it as ‘temporary’ as I’m supposed to be making a new one from scratch, even though I’ve had this one going for four years now ) but it has no position indicator. Might experiment with the LED range control idea, although I’m not sure I have the room in the current set-up.
For the new pit, whenever it finally happens, I want to make motor-driven units which will move as the autopilot moves the trims. I also want to make my own modular / configurable throttle quadrant and ideally motorise that as well for aircraft that do that in RL.
I might maybe have some of that done in time for MSFS 2028 
3 Likes
Very nice compact setup…congrats
thank you FLIGHTJOX
Have a good flight!
If you remake the trim panel you could squeeze an LED bar graph on the left.
A trim reset button could get you back to “neutral”?? Just like the Airbus rudder trim.
You need new pedals ASAP!!! Awesome setup otherwise!!
A post was merged into an existing topic: Rudder Pedals For PC
Speaking of home cockpits this is my build
And these are the modules i built for it! - oh snap no more photos/links allowed!! NVM
3 Likes
Very nice…Congrats!
I’ve added a few things to my cramped cockpit; most recently Winwing PAP 3 (Panel AutoPilot,) PFP 3 (Panel of Flight Plan,) PDC 3N and 3M (Panel of Display Controller - EFIS.)
In this pic we have those, and also:
LG 32" HDR1000 monitor (4K main)
ASUS 24" HDR10 monitor (2K secondary)
2 x 10.5" HD touchscreens (for POPM.)
Honeycomb Alpha Yoke (quick-release under-desk mount.)
Honeycomb Bravo TQ (quick-release under-desk mount.)
Virpil Alpha Prime joystick grip on Mongoose T-50 CM3 base (quick-release desk mount.)
Virpil Hawk-60 Collective grip / Rotor TCS Plus base (permanent chair mount.)
VKB S-TECS Throttle Module (quick-release mount - stays attached.)
MFG Crosswind rudder pedal
Elgato Streamdeck XL
Elgato Streamdeck Plus
Class Echo built w/Arduino (I plan to use it for radio comms.)
Wired Razor gaming keyboard
Wireless mouse
Tobii Eye Tracker
Corsair HS80 Wireless Headset
Computer specs are in my profile.
I think I have all the controls I need now for any kind of flying. (Famous last words…) 
6 Likes
Looks great!..you been busy 
1 Like
