Look At This Wacky Gamepad That Somehow Has a Full Set of Flight Controls

Sometimes you get a transportation successful your inbox that you conscionable can’t not constitute about. I got 1 of those this morning; it's the caller Honeycomb Echo Aviation Controller, a formation sim gamepad that's owed for acquisition sometime adjacent month, Honeycomb announced today.

Let maine beryllium clear: I person nary thought if this is simply a bully controller oregon worthy buying astatine all. It's conscionable that, erstwhile I saw the representation of this thing, I stopped speechmaking the property merchandise I'd been emailed, sent the email to my editors astatine IGN and said “I’m convinced that the radical request to spot this Pee Wee Herman-ass controller.” And you do, spot me. In fact, present it is:

Let’s speech astir conscionable what we’re looking at, here. This is simply a gamepad-shaped controller with the noble extremity of letting you beryllium with your arms limply resting successful your lap, yet with each of the switches, levers, buttons, and sticks you request to bid a integer pitchy airliner. Most acquainted to non-flight sim gamers volition beryllium the analog instrumentality – utilizing anti-drift hall-effect sensors, of people – for “full elevator and aileron input,” truthful that you tin DO A BARREL ROLL! (Aileron rotation if you like, but I take to judge this 10-year-old PBS explainer astir wherefore Starfox’s Peppy did thing wrong.)

You’ll besides find 4 independently assignable thrust levers with exchangeable caps “for GA oregon commercialized aircraft,” according to Honeycomb’s website. Levers connected the bottommost fto you power things similar flaps and landing gear, and a acceptable of buttons adjacent the apical enactment for “camera, checklist, and toolbar functions.” There are besides paddles connected the backmost of the controller that Honeycomb says successful its announcement “move successful opposition” to springiness “realistic yaw power without outer pedals.” Finally, it’s wireless with up to 15 hours of battery, but besides works erstwhile wired via its USB-C charging port.

Honeycomb isn’t the lone 1 releasing controllers similar this. There’s besides the Meridian GMT X-Ray, for which I couldn’t find a merchandise day oregon price, and the delightfully-named Yawman Arrow, which you tin bid present for $199. Like those, the Echo Aviation gamepad is ostensibly for the sim instrumentality astir town who wants a compact mode to play Microsoft Flight Simulator with less compromises than adjacent the champion PC controllers require.

But I’d reason it’s besides decidedly for me, a full layman erstwhile it comes to these games, and not just due to the fact that I privation a little space-hogging mode to get into formation simulation. It’s besides due to the fact that I conscionable privation to person it and clasp it. To prime it up and, arsenic a troll-ish bit, manus it to my person arsenic we commencement up a crippled of Smash Bros. I should enactment present that though the mentation Honeycomb is announcing contiguous is for PCs and Macs, a YouTube trailer for the controller says it's coming to consoles successful 2026, arsenic well.

Whichever campy you autumn into, you won’t person to hold agelong to get your fix. The Echo Aviation Controller volition beryllium disposable mid-December for $150, a spendy gamepad terms that for erstwhile feels tenable and not similar a gratuitous flex.