Ed "Brandor" Reddy

  I have always had fantasies about building my own virtual cockpit for playing sims. Said cockpit would have a real, surplus pilot's ejection seat; an enclosed, blackened canopy; throttle and joystick mounted to fully-functional, switch-laden side pods.

But that's not all! It would also have Quickshot Master Pilots or PC Dashes mounted like real MFD's; authentic rudder pedals and as many speakers one could throw into a small enclosure without causing permanent hearing damage. Oh, and full, 3-axis motion of course! But then I open my eyes and come crashing back to reality. Like most of you, I neither have the physical space in my home nor the money to build a state-of-the-art home-brewed virtual cockpit.

I have, therefore, endeavored to work around these constraints of space and money and found products that will enhance my game play immersion while being both affordable and portable. In order to replace the 2,000 Watt sound system and full-motion cockpit, I settled on (no pun intended) an AUREAL base cushion that booms out explosions and other environmental sounds from my games into my body via my computer chair's seat. Very affordable and very portable---I just chuck it in the closet when I'm done playing.

For controllers, I use a CH Throttle and Force FX HOTAS (Hands On Throttle and Stick) combo. Relatively speaking, this isn't the most inexpensive rig, but it's not the most expensive either---again, affordable but now we have a problem: it's not really portable. Let me explain.

My better half (wife) is always complaining that my HOTAS rig is a an impediment to her ability to use our home computer and desk (actually, I think she spluttered "Why do these stupid . . . things . . . have to be here?"). Despite her unfamiliarity with all that is holy and good in simming, I do agree that any HOTAS rig is a serious workspace-hogging obstacle in a home with one computer and desk combo.

Sure, HOTAS setups are portable to a degree, but they achieve a particular species of inertia I call Tanglus myriadus cablus controllerus inertiae once you've finally gotten all the cables figured out and attached. In other words, they are a pain to disconnect or move so we really do lose that portability factor. (Side note: I could solve this problem with a bigger desk, but we don't have room for that).

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Saving Grace . . .er, SPACE!

For some time now, I have been appeasing my wife's inexplicable frustration over my HOTAS rig's presence with promises that when USB versions became available I'd invest in a set. That way, when done flying and fighting, I could simply hot-unplug my HOTAS while the computer was still powered-on and put the rig away.

Well, a fully USB'd HOTAS system hasn't hit the market yet and quite frankly, time is running out as far as my wife is concerned. In other words, she pretty much told me I'd have to move my HOTAS rig off the desk and out of the way after every play session or we'd have to buy a bigger house (eek!).

I have seen other HOTAS-mounting devices ranging from PCV tubing matrices, to particle-board pods, to hollow plastic chairs, to your basic captain's-chair-plywood-and-big-screws setups. For the most part, these commercial products and home-brew designs do the job of mounting your HOTAS "exo-deskus" quite admirably. Unfortunately, many of these designs, while functional for their intended game immersion-enhancing purposes, are not as functional with respect to convenience.

For example, surround yourself with either the PVC matrix, side-pod design, or even the mounted-on-the-arms-of-the-chair configuration and try to perform the classic doorbell-rings-and-the-dog-goes-bonkers-emergency-egress maneuver. Good luck, and I hope you have shin guards on when you do it. The problem will all the aforementioned designs is that you're corralled by your own HOTAS cables.

Furthermore, when play time is over and you have to get back to the mundane tasks of daily living, the designs I referred to are not contstructed in such a way as to be easily disassembled and stored out of the way. Wouldn't it be nice if we could have a device that mounted our HOTAS off our desk, made ingress and egress easy and painless, and could be left where it was when doing other daily tasks or quickly disassembled and stored in a closet without much difficulty? Enter the H.O.T.A.S.S. from Fighter Systems.

What is a HOTASS? Well, first of all it is pronounced HOT-ASS. The HOTASS (stop giggling back there!), is an ingenious Hands on Throttle and Stick System that amongst many other great features, which I will describe below, allows you to get your throttle and joystick off your desk.

Go to Part II