While some joysticks have an integrated throttle, using a dedicated throttle quadrant will significantly improve your experience. Joystick / Yoke + Throttle QuadrantĪ joystick and yoke are integral to your flight simulation experience. While there are a few mobile options (i.e., on your phone or iPad), they don’t come near the experience that the other platforms provide, so we’ll avoid diving into them for this guide. The first thing you’ll need is a platform to run the simulator on.

We’ll dive into exactly what you should buy later in this guide.

There are a few things that you require to effectively run a flight simulator, but you may be surprised by how few and cost-effective they are. That being said, what do you need for a flight simulator, regardless of budget or purpose? What You Need for a Flight Simulator Once you have a goal and budget in mind, choosing the right setup in a sea of options becomes much easier. Start by assessing your current needs and goals for flight simulation, as well as your budget (we’ll do this later in the guide). Even expensive, complex setups generally start small and evolve over time.

How close home flight simulators are to real life.īecause of the vast range of prices, training goals, and aircraft, no two flight sim setups are the same.

Which hardware (e.g., joystick) and software (e.g., X-Plane) you should buy.

What an affordable, mid-range, and expensive flight simulator will cost.

This guide will break down the following: This guide will break down exactly how to get started with flight simulators or enhance your current setup so that you can get in the air and start flying without needing to become an IT expert. Getting started with flight simulation can feel overwhelming…

Instal Ultimate Flight Simulator Pro