The following modifications are suggested for CH Products FlightStick owners. Composed and uploaded by Jeff Horrocks, 72247,1462 on November 19, 1989. Exploration and discovery of these modifications is credited to Rick Lee, CompuServe GAMERS Forum Flight Simulators Section Leader, 71361,667. (In the text below, you will find instructions for modification to your CH Products FlightStick. Note that any of these modifications will probably invalidate the warranty of your Flight Stick however the author of this modification has not checked with CH Products on this point. The author of this document guarantees nothing about the usefulness or functionality of this modification and there are no implied guarantees, warranties, or any other agreements that can be used to initiate any legal action whatsoever against the author of this modification. Performing this modification and any results due to it are strictly at the risk of the person or persons doing the modification and the users of the modification.) Contact CH Products at 1225 Stone Drive, San Marcos CA 92069 (619) 744-8546. At this point the FlightStick is regarded as the joystick of choice, especially for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Mainly because it's a very high quality joystick, but it has special features that make it great for FS. Namely a pistol grip that looks and feels like a real flight stick, and a third control input that will work the throttle on Microsoft's FS3 and FS4. For smoother throttle response you can disable the "click" in the throttle control. Follow these steps: 1) Using small straight blade screwdriver or similar tool, pry off the four rubber feet on the bottom of FlightStick. They are attached by adhesive and will come off with a little work. 2) Using small Phillips screwdriver, unscrew and remove the four screws, one found under each foot. 3) Gently remove the bottom plate of FlightStick. 4) On the bottom piece that you remove, there will be a small piece of plastic, 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch with a ridge in the middle. This is the piece that causes the "click" action of the throttle. It rubs on the bottom of the throttle wheel. Remove this piece, turn it over and put it right back. This way you won't loose it if you ever want to reverse this modification. Believe me you won't want to! 5) (Check into second modification described below.) Replace the bottom of the FlightStick. 6) Install the four screws. 7) Replace the four rubber feet. 8) Enjoy! While you have the FlightStick open you may want to do this second modification. Find some small rubber bands and install them over the springs that provide the resistance for the joystick handle. I've done this for the elevator/front-back axis, but depending on your rubber band supply and personal tastes you might want to install the rubber bands on both axes. The black colored axis centering wheels have one large bump indicating the center position. Using a dab of "white out" on this bump will make it much more visible. You might also want to use the josytick calibration BASIC program in the FlightStick manual to calibrate and center the joystick. After that's done, use a permanent marker to place a dash drawn on the FlightStick case opposite the white bump on the axis centering wheel. This will give you a reference point for re-centering the axis wheels. (Be sure to try the Y axis wheel as a "fake elevator trim" control, it works wonderfully!) It's also appropriate to mention another modification text file for using FlightStick and an external foot pedal with Electronic Arts' program Indianapolis 500 The Simulation. Look for GASPED.500 in GAMERS LIB6. Highly recommended!