Reply To: Consdiering Purchase CLS-E

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Hello Craig,

As for integration with the Zibo mod using the Brunner CLS-E yoke, I’d say it’s really good. Haven’t actually tried the stick shaker but I’m quite confident it would work just fine. As for trim, autopilot etc, it’s all working fine. It was some trial and error when first creating the profile for the Zibo mod but now, I don’t see any current limitations. I even had a Ryanair pilot with 10.000+ hours over trying it out in different scenarios and he was quite impressed! He also helped me fine-tune the forces to be as close to the real thing as possible.

Another thing I’m very happy about is how Diego (the Brunner developer of CLS2Sim) implemented integration with the hydraulic system in the Zibo mod after I suggested this to him. Meaning, you’ll now just like in the real aircraft have a yoke which requires lots of force to be moved when you don’t have hydraulic pressure available in the aircraft. Then once you switch the HYD PUMPS ON, the force required to move the yoke will be back to normal. Hopefully nothing you’ll ever have to experience in-flight unless you have a HYD failure. Nevertheless, really cool how it’s now modeled correctly!

As for other effects such as taxi rumble, vibrations from the engines etc, I’ve learned that is nothing you would ever feel in the real aircraft unless something is wrong or you’re taxiing somewhere where you’re not supposed to be taxiing in a 737… So I’ve disabled any such effects. My main goal with my simming has always been to get as close to operating a real 737 as I can possibly get in front of my desk in my home. And I feel I’ve come quite close. Where my Brunner CLS-E yoke is part of that mix. Together with a motorized CockpitForYou throttle quadrant, an Opencockpits CDU, a pair of Thrustmaster Pendular rudder pedals (sorry Brunner) and all this online on Vatsim in a pair of HP Reverb Pro VR glasses making you feel you’re in the real aircraft.

Doing all my flying in VR is also one of the main reasons I wanted to have both a motorized yoke and throttle quadrant. Being able to physically feel what I see when sitting in the VR cockpit. Being able to feel the yoke move left/right, forward/backwards etc with the AP. In the same way I feel the thrust levers moving to t/o thrust after I pressed TOGA. While seeing the same thing happening in the Zibo cockpit.

Edited to add what I forgot to comment on, the forces and the travel. Like Marco already said, I guess it all depends on what aircraft you’re flying and how much extra you’re willing to spend to go that extra mile for realism. In my case with the CLS-E, it was an easy decision since the NG wasn’t available back when I bought my CLS-E yoke. However, for the type of flying I’m doing and based on what I said above how I always strive for maximum realism, I’m pretty sure I would still have picked the CLS-E today if I bought a new yoke. Because of the extra force helping to simulate HYD pressure loss as mentioned above. But also to be as close to the same travel as in the real 737.

All this combined is what really makes me smile these days when I’m flying 🙂

Wishing you all a great weekend!