Twitchy Flight Controls? | Fix Your Flight Controls with Extremity Deadzones | MSFS 2020

Are your flight controls too sensitive in Microsoft Flight Simulator? Is the airplane difficult to control? Let's look at one setting that can help.
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00:00 Intro
00:50 Sensitivity Settings
02:25 Flight Test - Fair Weather
03:30 Flight Test - Live Weather
04:05 Rudder Sensitivity
06:20 Elevator Sensitivity
06:55 Landing No. 1
08:00 Extremity Deadzones
09:15 Flight Test - Extremity Deadzones
10:15 How REAL Flight Controls Work
12:00 Elevator Sensitivity
12:30 Landing No. 2
13:00 Final Settings Adjustment
13:55 Flight Test - Final Settings
16:30 Elevator Sensitivity
17:05 Short Final
17:35 The Way to Fix Twitchiness

[@JBirdDrmmr]

Little tip….if you put the mouse cursor over the slider bar, you can use the ⬅️➡️ to adjust by 1%

[@deepredson]

Never knew that one. Thanks!

[@peterallen900]

You can also scroll the mouse wheel to adjust by 1%

[@TheOneTrueSpLiT]

Also works with the mouse scroll wheel.

[@terblanchejordaan3822]

Probably the best tip for sensitivity settings. Never thought to tweak the 'Extremity Dead Zone' and it makes a huge difference. Just did two flights with the new settings. On in the Fenix and one with PMDG and manage to butter both landings with a -8 and -23 respectively. As a pilot myself this feels much more like it. Thank you for this.

[@IslandSimPilot]

You’re quite welcome, and thanks for the feedback, I do appreciate it!

[@tf6shawnn]

mind if i ask you for your settings for both fenix and the 737?

[@Rahul-zl8xj]

Extremity deadzone: verify if it resitricts the max deflection possible in the flight control column itself.

[@IslandSimPilot]

That's an interesting question, I don't believe it does.

[@acratone8300]

Yes, it does. If you go overboard with extremity deadzone, then you have no deflection at all. Or anything in between depending how much you chop off the ends.

[@Rahul-zl8xj]

@IslandSimPilot The issue in MSFS is the moment of inertia, especially noticeable in the pitching moment and yaw moment. XP11/12 hands down models this better.

[@Rahul-zl8xj]

Another note - The Fenix A320 (Maybe the comanche from A2A - not enough time on it), has the best flight model and inertia modeling in the sim till date. I'm keeping the XP12 toliss model as a benchmark here.

[@disco79stu]

@@IslandSimPilot I'm also quite sure it does. It restricts the possible range of input that can be transmitted to the sim, as the graph perfectly shows. You won't be able to ever "send" 100% "digital" deflection because 100% physical deflection on your yoke/js only sends - lets say - 80%. Yes, that makes it less twitchy, but you will restrict the flight controls to a certain max. Now, it's possible that on a normal flight, you won't ever need full deflection in most aircraft. But I personally don't like the idea that I'm restricting the flight control surfaces in this way.

[@MrImperativeoz]

The Tomahawk is an absolute thrill to pilot, especially in VR. it really got my heart pumping on my first take off! I researched the actual aircraft and found out it's nicknamed the "Traumahawk" because of its reputation for being easily stalled, which adds an element of danger to its handling characteristics

[@IslandSimPilot]

Dude I stalled it on my first flight (on purpose) and almost wound up swimming. It doesn't stall, doesn't stall, doesn't stall... and then you're nose down heading straight for the ground (or the water in my case). Fun little airplane!

[@mattschmidt9084]

@@IslandSimPilot Great little airplane to fly in real life. Was designed to fly like a heavier aircraft, so treat it as such. Remember, the more stabile the aircraft, the harder the spin recovery. This ain't a C172. Most Pipers are very stable, that is why you shouldn't spin them. The C172, with its long, thin wings, is inherently less stabile, so it is easier to recover from a spin. Hence, the C172 is known to be a very safe aircraft. Enjoy flying this wonderful airplane. If you get a chance, fly one in real life!!!!

[@IslandSimPilot]

@@mattschmidt9084 Hey Matt, yeah, I did a test flight yesterday and spun it, it snapped pretty hard once it did stall. Question for you: the biggest thing I noticed in the flight model is that even though Vs0 and Vs1 are 48 and 52 knots, it flew just fine at 38 knots with full flaps. Is that normal? It can't be... It was the no flaps configuration that snapped and spun, and even that didn't happen until 40-42 knots. I thought that was pretty odd.

[@mattschmidt9084]

@@IslandSimPilot At full gross weight, the power-off, full-flaps stall speed is 47 knots. With no flaps, it is 48 knots. The model sounds a little off if you had that experience.

[@IslandSimPilot]

@@mattschmidt9084 That's what I figured. I'm going to try it again today. Thanks for the knowledge!

[@mofa9999]

I believe that what you perceive as reduced sensitivity is due to the "more horizontal " linear curve of the axis after adding the Extremity dead zones. More horizontal curve means less sensitivity more vertical means more sensitivity. You can confirm this by adding a negative extremity dead zone instead of the positive one and see how fast it will react to your inputs. With regards to why the plane switched ends of the runway, that’s possibly due different wind directions between the two scenarios, msfs automatically chooses which end of runway based on the wind direction unless dictated otherwise. One last thing, you were wondering about the sensitivity adjustment sliders. If you look at the curve it will give you a combination of a horizontal and vertical components leading to reduced sensitivity in a part of the curve and increased sensitivity in the other part. I always thought this was very confusing and the more logic approach is the one you mentioned provided you don’t exaggerate in the dead zone or else you’d be reducing the effective range of the axis.

[@davidtsw]

Thanks for the tip! I've been using sensitivity and some other sliders for a while but adding a little extreme reactivity helped refine my controls noticeably.

[@D0meson]

Thanks for sharing, brilliant! Your channel is one of the most valuable around the flight sim hobby, every time I watch your videos I learn something which I can instantly apply because you explain it in such helpful detail.

[@IslandSimPilot]

Thank YOU. I really wish you guys could understand how much I appreciate your encouragement and feedback. It means a lot. Happy simming!

[@Macbrowndog]

Thanks.. Helped with my rudder pedals...

[@treloarw]

This just might be the most important msfs video I have seen and will see all year. Sub’d! Can’t wait to try some of this on the A2A Comanche. It’s REAL squirrelly on approach and landings.

[@bubbsy2002]

Thanks for that tip, huge difference!

[@Starsnu1]

Great video. I never really thought about using the Extremity Dead Zone to produce a much better "Feel" for the airplane regarding the flight controls.

[@lloydnoel2289]

I have be messing with the control settings forever and just could not get it right. Followed your video and used your settings and now every landing is greaser with no squirrlies on takeoff or touchdown. Great stuff and many thanks!.

[@andyaustin923]

You can also use the mouse wheel for fine-tuning.

[@MichGoBIue]

Those adjustments made a big difference. Thanks again for the usable content!

[@IslandSimPilot]

You’re so welcome, Bob, and thanks as always for the support!

[@deepredson]

Just de-twitched! It works fine. Thank so much. Really useful vid. Barty

[@rtocarp]

Itching to try this. I don't fly a real plane, but thought that if controlling one during takeoffs and landings was as difficult as it is in the sim, I'm glad I don't!! You could certainly see a marked improvement with the changes you made. Many thanks for this and all your videos.

[@MrStatsfreak]

I just made a flight with this tweak in my A2A Comanche and it made all the difference in the world. An excellent tip, thanks. Suddenly I'm not chasing the aircraft all over the place on landings trying to maintain control.

[@Cotija1975111]

Great video as usual !! Quick tip....use your mouse scroll wheel to move sliders. It lets you select easier / tick individual numbers. 🙂

[@user-sm9ee9jq8f]

Very useful, many thanks.

[@IslandSimPilot]

Glad it was helpful!

[@johnbrann75]

Great video. I just bought the Tomahawk after watching streamers rave about it and I found it very difficult to control. Your tip for sensitivities is probably the only one I haven't tried, thank so much. By the way, to increment the sliders in the controls place your cursor on the slider and use the mouse wheel, you can easily get exact numbers.

[@Mrv1960]

Great job fixed my frustration with my flight controller.

[@jameshall5835]

This is exactly what I was experiencing and I flew the real bird 45 years ago. I’m going to try these settings. I was able to settle things down with the sensitivity settings however, but not as good as you were getting.

[@USApr1]

thank u, to me it was the extreme dead zone that helped so much

[@peterprow6093]

This advice is the single best thing ive cime across since I bought the sim! Every single aircraft now handles great and the feeling of being connected with a machine instead of a game is much better :) Thanks for this

[@IslandSimPilot]

I'm so glad, thanks for the positive feedback!

[@johndoe-sc8ck]

this is exactly what I used to do was have the sensitivity curves and I was always bobbing up and down too. Then I did what you did set sensitivity to 0 and adjusted extreme deadzone to around 25 ,its different for each plane, but I also set reactivity down too. What a difference it made for me. I have way more control over the plane now.

[@IslandSimPilot]

Yeah it makes a world of difference! I just wish it was more readily apparent what setting does what.

[@johndoe-sc8ck]

yep

[@HenkIdsinga]

Brilliant, thanks again👍

[@IslandSimPilot]

No problem 👍

[@Mets747]

It might feel good, but it actually has a bad effect...the more of an extremity dead zone you put the less movement you have of your control surfaces. So there is definitely a price you pay with this. Thanks for sharing.

[@DLCTVBM]

Hello! I can't tell you how thankfull I'm for this tip and demonstration! I've always been very annoyed by MSFS twitchiness of the control and like you I've tried many time to use the sensitivity curve to try to make it better without real success, since a while I was just trying to get along with it like it is, but it was still making the landing quite messy and undercontrolled no matter the way I was trying to handle it! I never understood the role of the extremity deadzone before...Thanks to you, it's all different now, the feeling seems just natural! Best advice ever for MSFS! Best!

[@IslandSimPilot]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the feedback. Happy simming!

[@Buddy308]

This top will probably help a lot. I think my problem was to adjust nothing other than sensitivity. After this video, I'm confident I can get good control by no longer ignoring the other adjustments

[@davidhowell3587]

For granular control try hovering over the "dot" and use your mouse wheel. Each wheel click should move the dot 1 unit.

[@853massey]

Use the mouse scroll wheel over the slider to adjust them more precisely. Thanks for the tips.

[@DJTechno94]

I also have very similar settings and it makes day and night of a difference! However I have cranked the extremity dead-zones even further to a generous 70% (even up to 90% depending on aircraft) on the y axis

[@IslandSimPilot]

Glad it’s helped! I find it’s the quickest and easiest way to get better feel.

[@fjacobsen16]

Problem with these settings is that You don´t get full deflection on Your in-game control surfaces. I guess setting Reactivity to 0 is the way to go inorder to make physical movements 1:1 with in-sim movement. A reactivity other than 0 means that the control input lags behind as a kind of dampening - not good for quick and swift rudder control f.ex.

[@peterdr7193]

Thanks for this interesting video. I’ll try it tomorrow with the default DR-400. Can you make a video with different settings in the BN2 Islander ?

[@Virtusim]

That fixed the Tomahawk. By the way, you can adjust the sliders more precisely with your mouse scroll wheel. Thanks a lot Mike

[@IslandSimPilot]

Ha, I never thought of trying that, that is very much appreciated Mike!! And I agree, this fixed it. GREAT little airplane!

[@KenMay-ww9cl]

He man enjoy your videos I wanted to tell you I think your on to something with the sensitivity I’ve experienced the same problem I’ve been implementing your plan and so far on the 3 aircraft I have applied it to made a big difference !

[@IslandSimPilot]

That’s fantastic! Glad it’s helped you.

[@julianhall2008]

Thanks 👍

[@AndyFromYorkshire]

I have the same issues and will try your suggestions - However, sim update 15 is due to address ground handling issues, which might also help with rudder controls.

[@rogerhanson3106]

It switched the ends of the runway because the prevailing wind in real world weather was different to the wind (Or lack of) with the previous weather setting it will always set you off at the runway heading into the wind😊

[@FTStratLP]

What happens around 6:55 is mainly, because the aircraft is not trimmed well IMO.

[@550stanley]

You do loose travel with these setting though. Essentially with the extremity dead zone, for example with the roll, your full 90 degree turn of the yoke, would only be a percentage of that 90 in the sim, depending on how much of that Extremity dead zone you've applied. I noticed a few issues with this approach though. For Pitch, sometimes on the landing, if you really need to bring the nose up to flare, having too much of that dead-zone will not allow you to pull the virtual yoke to its extreme position. Same thing for the rudder pedals, when taxing, sometimes I need to push the rudder fully on one side to make the wheel turn at it's tightest while taxing and with this dead-zone I wouldn't be able to. For rudder pedals I still use regular sensitivity to make it much lower near the center and then ramp it up at the edges. Pitch and roll I think works fine with the dead-zone, just gotta be careful of that pitch. Reactivity is good for bad controller signal, it is essentially a low pass filter. If the signal from the potentiometer brings in noise and spikes, and makes the control twitch in the sim, using a little bit of that reactivity to calm it down helps tremendously.

[@IslandSimPilot]

Yeah I’ve had a few close calls with landings, almost not enough elevator. These control settings are maddening. Sensitivity doesn’t seem to control… sensitivity! And Reactivity just gets you out of phase between your physical movements of the controls and what happens in the sim. Extremity deadzone gives me exactly the feel I want but robs you of the edges of control range. It’s incredibly difficult to figure this out. But this is the closest I have found to what I’m looking for.

[@Glider324]

Reactivity is the standard way but thanks for an alternative approach to twitchiness issues.

[@IslandSimPilot]

The thing with Reactivity is that you can get out of phase between your physical movements and the reaction in the sim. I just could not get it to feel right at all.

[@keithb4048]

​​@@IslandSimPilot Only make slight changes to reactivity when you have the rest set up to "feel good" as you have learned/showed. Then Try reactivity 90% or 80% as a Final Adjustment for wheight/feel. 40% is wayyyy to low.

[@IslandSimPilot]

@@keithb4048 Appreciate the tip, Keith, thank you!

[@BW-dn7dy]

i disagree with the extremity dead zone usage, it will limit ur maximum control surface movement. ur decreasing ur overall control surface potential by 30%, you can see that at the very end of the lines.. applying that to rudder will make crosswind landings and takeoffs much worse and maybe even impossible... only reason it feels better is because u have lopped off 30% potential and stretched that range of movement across the board and range of controls.

[@dantheman7357]

Thanks Island SimPilot . I had the same twitchy problems you had and I was upset that I could not make the airplanes fly and FEEL like real aircraft. In the old FSX I had my settings adjusted to give my aircraft the feel of the real planes and I really enjoyed the Sim. Now finally, thanks to you I can go back to flying a lot more in FS2020 because as a RL Pilot I really do want reality in aircraft handling and feel. It is astoundingly better now !!!!!!! I appreciate you letting us in on this .

[@IslandSimPilot]

Gladly, Dan, and thanks for letting me know that it helped!

[@douglasrobinson7857]

Hi, any feed back on Extremity Dead Zone + on helicopter tail rotor?

[@buikhan]

I got the left pedal kept braking on it own on this plane, that is no problem with other planes. Wondering what is the conflict. Can you shred some light for this?

[@vedymin1]

Linear controls so the response is always the same, small null zones around the middle to get rid of control slack and spikes, full speed reactivity so you don't wait for the controls... Thats all i'd say.

[@vedymin1]

Extremity dead zone: if it limits the contrl deflection in the sim then its pointless, you basically block yourself from deflecting them fully. However if it only pertains to the your physical control range at the edges being ignored while the plane controls still fully deflect then i guess a tiny bit might not hurt, so that you know you get full deflections the plane is capable of when pushing your own stick fully.

[@singhonlo67]

I have very twitchy control issues with the 2A2 Comanche and Sting S4 during final approach with my Turtle beach Velocityone stick. I have tried your setting but i am not sure it makes noticetable difference at all for both planes.

[@plarthpartel]

How do you have the static Gulfstream models ?

[@abstractbybrian]

Try -75% sens and 20 on reactivity

[@TheOneTrueSpLiT]

When you "grab" any "slider" you can move it up and down using the mouse scroll wheel, and you can just slew to the other end of the runway 😉 I've spent hours and hours trying to figure out how the sensitivity settings work and I still don't get it, I have FSUIPC and Axis & Ohs with the Saitek Yoke (with the Leo Bodnar axis and deadzone mod) yet I can't seem to get things to work as expected. All my hardware works just fine in DCS, IL-2 and X-Plane 11/12, it is only MSFS that £ucks things up and I bet it will be the same with MSFS 2024 😒

[@ImpendingJoker]

I like your content man, but your mic seems a bit, bright. Very tinny

[@tvfd-thevirtualflightdispa978]

I am intrigued by @mofa9999's comment. I must play around with it a bit to test his theory. Now, to my experience (and forgive the long-winded explanation): I have struggled with flight controls that were "too sensitive." In particular, the rudder was so bad that staying on the center line was a practical impossibility. It didn't matter what aircraft (from the TBM single engine to the Boeing 787-9), ALL acted similarly: It would behave until you got to the runway environment, but when wheels touched, the aircraft would lurch sideways. The natural reaction is to kick the rudder back the other way, but any pilot knows what happens when you do that....can you say PIO?? Interestingly, when I flew a CAT III autoland (in the Fenix A320 and the Horizon 787-9), the aircraft stayed right down the middle until I kicked off the AP, then it went meandering. I suppose I could fly my heavy jets in autoland, but that defeats the purpose of the sim. Unless the conditions demand it, I will typically kick off the AP/AT at 1000 ft, then hand fly it to the runway. Understand I don't do this for a living (I am a dispatcher, not a pilot), so the skills are there, but the practice is not. I must think my way through an approach while a pilot who does it 4- 5 times a day can fly it by feel. I have been searching for a solution to this problem, and to be candid, I have scoured the Internet for solutions; ChatGPT was useless, but there were 1-2 OK videos on the "U of YT" that addressed this. Of course, not with great results. My testing was done at PHNL, with live weather today (Apr 29) in the TBM930. Winds were 03014G30KT (so sporty), VFR below 4000 ft, departing and landing 04R. (I did one departing 08L, which I will discuss soon). The first two attempts were ugly. I expected to get bounced around, but the airplane was VERY loose. I got back to the runway in one piece (I didn't break the airplane, and I have crash detection on, so I would have known that...but I digress), but the rudder was so sensitive that even a small amount of rudder to bring the nose around produced a yaw severe enough that would have caused a runway excursion had the runway been more narrow. I then applied the corrections suggested, and the first takeoff was better. However, the gusty conditions still created a bit of excess yaw, which made for a roller-coaster takeoff. What I noticed right away was that the aircraft felt smoother. 100% was too much. At about 85% EDZ and 90% reactivity, it worked well...for me. Your mileage may vary. The next two landings were much better; I held the centerline with a slight bit of crab, and with the left wheel down first, I didn't need a lot of right rudder input to recenter it. The fourth takeoff was off 08L with a far more severe crosswind (and LLWS due to the gusts). The airplane behaved as I would expect it to; the little bit of wind shear I got was correctable. The airplane got loose, but not as much as before. Summary: This is great advice and SORELY needed. There are so many complaints about controls, especially the rudder, and I have not found a workable solution to the problem until today. Tomorrow, I will test it on heavy metal (Fenix A320, then the 787-9). I will test the PMDG 737 last as I don't have my arms around that airplane yet. I expect there will be some difference in the sidestick vs. the yoke. I expect to tweak each aircraft. I can certainly live with that. I am incredibly grateful. He has found a way to fix this and explained it so that you don't have to be a wizard to get it. You DO need some piloting skills to understand the nuance, but isn't learning to fly it what the sim is about?

[@Savage_Viking]

Notice all sorts of weridness with controls and camera view shifting after this last update.

[@desmodromic4586]

If you want real immersion with real aircraft feeling, get a Brunner Force Feedback yoke, I have a MKII it’s the best money I have ever spent in a fly sim

[@desmodromic4586]

Everything’s else is just a toy

[@vagp8055]

After many hours of testing I found that the key is Reactivity. It should be at 0

[@AV8R_1]

My Tomahawk seems really stiff in roll. Just this aircraft. Anyone else?

[@D800Lover]

Is he using TrackIR 5?

[@IslandSimPilot]

Hey, longtime TrackIR user, but I use Tobii Eye Tracker 5 nowadays.

[@Thom3302]

@@IslandSimPilot do you have settings video for that?

[@IslandSimPilot]

@@Thom3302 Sure do! kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3qqZ5Soq5upmsk

[@joeynuggetz]

I wouldn't listen to this guy. He doesn't use words like expo and probably doesn't understand what he's messing with here.

[@saminaneen]

@IslandSimPilot, What is the name of that airport, and is it freeware, or pay ware, can you leave a link, to find it,,Thanks.