Thrustmaster TCA Airbus side stick

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
1

Hi
Will I be able to fly all the aircraft using just this stick or is it mainly compatible for the big birds?
Cheers
Andy

2

I replaced my ancient Sidewinder with the TCA a while back, it works fine as a single controller solution for most planes. Ironically, I don’t fly the planes that the stick was intended for - namely the A320 and the other jetliners, but for all the stock General Aviation single engine propellers and even the biz jets like the Citation Longitude, it works just fine. You’ll probably want to adjust the default settings to your own taste.

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3

It’s just a normal joystick like everything else. So you can use it to fly any aircraft that you want. But you may need to adjust a few settings to your liking.

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4

I use it to fly all the aircraft. It’s a comfortable stick that works well with either hand. Plenty of buttons to map however you’d like.

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5

@AndyIves1969
I’m using the basically identical T16000M which has the advantage of better ergonomics and more practical located buttons than the Airbus version.

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6

also for the helicopter its a great stick

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7

Thanks guys. Appreciate the feedback there.
When you plug it in will it come up with a default configuration?
Excuse the ignorance, total newbie waiting for set up to arrive.
Cheers

8

It has a default binding, yes
 You can choose to use it if you want.
But when I got mine, I cleared everything and create a new profile from blank, and start binding them manually one by one until I find the most comfortable bindings for my needs.

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9

Cheers pal

10

Talking about config.

The T16000M/Airbus stick is very precise, but still has less travel, requires less force to move and it’s a smaller size than a ‘real’ stick/yoke, which means you should compensate for these shortcomings IMO.

If the stick is brand new and still very precise, a deadzone of 2-3% is big enough to avoid any unwanted interference with e.g. the autopilot.

I’m using -33% on all axis to be able to achieve the required fine control movements around the center of the stick.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

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11

I use 10% deadzone, and -50% on all my axis sensitivity for my TCA Sidestick.
There is a weird issue with the rudder twist, though. If I leave my sidestick alone for a while, over time it gets really jumpy whenever I make slight movements on the sidestick in any direction.

Usually the only way to solve this is to actually shake the sidestick and do a full twist movement on either side. It becomes stable afterward, until it doesn’t anymore after a few hours.

12

Doesn’t the Airbus stick have a wiring problem which affects the rudder axis?

Never had any problems with my two T16000Ms in many years.

13

That would explain it.

14

Dirty potentiometer. Happens to all of them eventually.

15

Eventually? I got this behaviour since I opened the box
 lol.
It’s not a big deal, shaking the sidestick stabilises it
 if it happens again, then I’ll shake it again.

16

There are no poties on the T16000M/Airbus stick, that’s why they are so precise for many years

except for the rudder axis which doesn’t have hall sensors :sweat_smile:

17

I don’t think the behavior described by @Neo4316 is the rudder issue that the T16000M suffers from.

We’ll see if the rudder of the TCA Sidestick has the same issue or if they learned from the issues.

I think one benefit of the TCA Sidestick to the T16000M is that it has a dedicated reverse range on the throttle, which might or might not be relevant to the TO.

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18

There are Hall effect sensors on the pitch and roll axes. The rudder, which is where he’s having a problem, is a pot.

19

That’s what I wrote


20

Eventually could be immediately. I got a brand new Logitech throttle quadrant with jumpy pots.

Sorry, but you also said you gave it a “full twist” and that fixed it. That’s a classic symptom of a dirty pot because moving it to the ends of travel sweeps it clean. I opened up my Logitech wingman and did the same thing.