REVIEW: Thrustmaster TCA Yoke PACK Boeing Edition

Bring out your inner Boeing pilot

Official description and key features:

TCA Boeing Edition, Thrustmaster’s new flagship civil aviation range, is a line of products allowing for cutting-edge new features with a highly-specific goal in mind: replicating the different controls, flight kinematics and sensations experienced by real Boeing pilots at the controls of a 787 airliner.

Officially-licensed Boeing yoke and throttle quadrant inspired by the iconic Boeing 787 airliner (1:1 scale ergonomic replicas)

• Suspended PENDUL_R mechanism replicating the pendular sensation experienced in genuine Boeing Dreamliner airliners (8.3-inch / 21-cm range of travel)

• Adjustable yoke springs for smooth motion and flexible linear resistance, allowing for an outstanding level of control

• Innovative, 100% metal internal yoke structure for excellent sturdiness and balanced weight distribution of controls, as well as an extended product lifespan

• Iconic Boeing autopilot feature included in throttle quadrant: control of the aircraft’s altitude, airspeed and heading

• Throttle levers can be swapped with the speed brake and flaps levers (4 levers included in total)

Sim Pilot HQ’s Take:

For as long as I had played flight simulators as a kid, I was always using a joystick. Back in those days, yokes weren’t as prevalent as they are today, and indeed even when I picked flight simulators back up in my later years with Microsoft Flight Simulator, my first purchase was the TCA Airbus Captains Pack from Thrustmaster.

Although the sidestick included in that package works with any plane in MSFS, I felt myself yearning for a closer experience to the true flight controls when I was not piloting an Airbus. Whenever I jumped into the cockpit of a 787, Longitude or even a Cessna, I missed the feeling of having a true yoke. Being so satisfied with the TCA Airbus Captains Pack, it was natural for me to look into Thrustmaster’s Boeing Option, the TCA Yoke Pack Boeing Edition.

The Boeing Yoke

There’s no doubt that the market for yokes in flight simulators is more saturated today than it was decades ago. This Boeing yoke from Thrustmaster, however, has a few tricks up it’s sleeve that puts helps to separate it from it’s stiff competition.

For starters, there is a clear trend in flight simulator yokes to simulate the Cessna “pull towards you” mechanism, where a central rod pulled out and pushed in controls the flight surfaces. That’s not the case with the Boeing yoke. Due to their relationship with Boeing, Thrustmaster was able to research and manufacturer a pendulum style yoke that mimics the yoke on real Boeing aircraft. Yes, you still pull the yoke towards you and push it away from you, but most of that action happens within the base itself.

The only downside to that pendular mechanism, in my experience, was that it definitely makes the front of the base itself longer in order to house that mechanism. What that it equates to is a base that, once installed, sticks just a bit too far into the crotch area than I’d like. It sounds like a silly grievance, but just try to scoot yourself a bit closer to the yoke when you first install it and you’ll find out what I mean.

The yoke itself is installed via two clamps screwed in with rubber stops. An opening on the yoke slides into your flat desk surface and is then clamped down. The clamp area is ample for wide desk surfaces and even extremely small surfaces. I have mine clamped, of all things, to a keyboard extension surface and it clamps down tightly on such a thin area.

The pendular action on the Boeing yoke is smooth and a spring can be added or removed by the user to change the tension if so desired (instructions are provided in the manual). I do feel like there is a bit of “automatic center return” on the yoke itself, so I do encourage you to change the spring tension to see what suits you best.

One thing Thrustmaster did very well on the Boeing yoke is the button layout on the yoke itself. Not only are you provided plenty of buttons and triggers to map, you’re also given a great variety of button and HAT switch types to work with. From a “control input” perspective, there is a lot to offer hear, including a built in landing gear switch that gives you a healthy “clunk” when operated.

Materials wise, we’re looking at mostly plastic here. This is unsurprising given the price point, but I would have liked to have seen a bit of a softer material on the handles of the yoke itself. Since the hands are resting there indefinitely, something softer and more premium would have been welcome. On the opposite end of the spectrum, something heavier and more metallic might have also felt more premium, although it would have also driven this package up to a more premium price.

The Throttle Quadrant

For as comprehensive and well thought out as the Airbus throttle quadrant was, I would have expected Thrustmaster’s Boeing throttle quadrant to match that completeness. Unfortunately, it does not.

Starting on the button layout first, I do think Thrustmaster did a nice job on the rotary knob with the airspeed, heading and altitude controls. It’s a nice way to include those key autopilot features in a compact space. From there, though, the rest of the button layout feels lazy. There are an additional five programmable buttons that are completely left up to the owner. Now, while I do appreciate the freedom of choice, I also question the design decision. In the end, I feel like Thrustmaster was forced to just “fill out the bottom” with programmable buttons because of the questionable size limitation of the quadrant levers up top.

Those three axis controls on top are perhaps the most puzzling aspect of the Boeing throttle quadrant. For some reason, Thrustmaster chose to limit the size of this quadrant to just three axes, and therefore probably crammed the button assignments below them. Stranger still is that Thrustmaster provides you with four axis levers in the box: a speedbrake lever, two throttles with reversers and a flaps lever, and yet…only three places to plug things in. The PMDG 737 and Microsoft’s 787 both feature a speedbrake, two throttle controls and a flaps lever. Thrustmaster provides those levers and yet does not provide enough axes to plug those in. There’s a big disconnect here.

The reverser mechanism on the throttles is a neat button press mechanism that works well once set up and Thrustmaster even includes a mount to help set the throttle quadrant up on your desk…but those nice extras and features are thwarted by the decision to only allow three axes. While it’s true that you can buy two Boeing throttle quadrants and connect them, why would anyone do that given the price of yet another quadrant that leaves you with two extra axes, even more blank buttons and a duplicate rotary knob?

Conclusion

As always, let’s go over some pro’s and con’s of the Thrustmaster TCA Yoke PACK Boeing Edition:

Pro’s

• The pendulum interface of the yoke works well and feels unique

• Adjustable springs on the yoke are welcome

• Generous amount and variety of buttons and switches on the yoke

• The ergonomics of where the hands lie on the yoke in relation to the buttons feels great

• Clamp design on the yoke is innovative and I like that it’s built into the yoke itself (not an extra accessory)

• The yoke is easy to use with a variety of MSFS aircraft, not just Boeing airliners

• The throttle quadrant’s rotary knob is a nice space saving design

Con’s

• The yoke base sticks out just a bit too far into the users lap and may be uncomfortable for some

• I would have liked to hold onto a softer touch material on the yoke itself instead of hard plastic

• Including four levers on the throttle quadrant but only three axes to plug them in feels like a mistake

• The programmable buttons on the throttle quadrant feel like an afterthought instead of a design decision

All in all, my thoughts on the Thrustmaster TCA Yoke PACK Boeing Edition may come down to: don’t buy the pack. There’s a well thought out and very innovative yoke product here from Thrustmaster, but their Boeing throttle quadrant falls short in design and implementation. Forcing an end user to have to choose which three of four critical throttle controls to use and offering a smattering of random buttons with no labels to assign doesn’t equate to a fun or useful product.

The yoke, on the other hand, is very well designed and my only shortcomings with the product come down to subjective ergonomic interpretations that you might not find to be an issue at all. Control wise, the yoke is responsive, fun to use and includes a host of useful controls to map. It’s pendular design positions it to be a unique offering amongst its competitors and for all of those reasons I think Thrustmasters Boeing Yoke deserves to get a chance to be in your cockpit.