MiGMan’s Flight Sim Museum

MiGMan’s Flight Sim Museum

HOTAS Cougar Stick Tension

Mark N. of New Zealand wrote:
Hi MiGMan, now that I have recovered from the shock of the manual Smiling I just thought I would drop a line and say I'm enjoying the Cougar to the max. I tend to fly helicopters in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 so the spring tension is very hard to work with over long flights, any news about springs that are a bit softer?
MiGMan's answer:
Yes it is tiring to deflect the stick for extended periods - just as it is in a real plane! The solution is to do what real pilots do and use the trim control. I assign Hat 3 to trim functions, as it's the closest one to your right hand thumb.
Use it as a "mini joystick" - dialling in pitch adjustments to hold a climb or dive.
Also check out this old Thrustmaster article on spring tension: Why the Stiff Springs?