Author - Jerry Paxton

I have been very fortunate to get the chance to review many of Saitek’s Pro Flight peripherals of late. With their latest offering, the Pro Flight Multi Panel, Saitek mainly attempts to give sim-jocks a much more efficient way of handling their aircraft’s autopilot functions along with some additional things sim-pilots will no doubt appreciate (more on this later).

The Multi Panel is similar in form factor to Saitek’s Radio Panel albeit slightly shorter. This panel features a large LCD display for autopilot information and a heavy-duty knob to the left of the screen to switch autopilot display modes. You see, it is not as simple as pressing a single button and watching the plane magically right itself and go through your flight path for you. You actually have several different autopilot modes to choose from. Thankfully, the mode activation buttons below the LCD will allow you to select what modes you want running before you hit the master ‘AP’ button. You can select from the following autopilot modes: HDG, NAV, IAS, ALT, VS, APR, and REV.

As an example of the autopilot usage, say you want to maintain an altitude of 10000 ft and an indicated airspeed of 240 knots. You simple turn the display knob to ALT and then use the silver adjustment knob on the right of the display to increase the digits to 10000 ft. This brings up the first problem with the Multi Panel: the adjustment knob. This silver knob looks like the two-way frequency adjustment knobs on the Radio Panel but instead of having the lower ring of the knob turn independently and increase the display by a higher amount than the upper knob ring, the Multi Panel’s adjustment knob is fused. This means that turning to 10000 will take you quite a while.

After getting to 10000 ft on the ALT display, then you can select IAS with the mode knob and go back to the adjustment knob until you get to 240 knots. Since the two autopilot modes you care about have been set you can hit the IAS and ALT buttons below the LCD to pre-select them. After this the only left to do is confirm your choices by pressing the AP button to activate. Remember to also set the autothrottle toggle to the ARM position, otherwise the IAS mode will not work. It is a safety mechanism allowing you to independently engage and disengage the IAS mode in case of emergency. After engaging the AP master button you will notice your plane smoothly begins its climb to your selected altitude. Simple!

This method of utilizing an aircraft’s autopilot is light years beyond the point-and-click method in Flight Simulator X. Switching all of those little buttons and knobs with the mouse cursor acting as a ‘virtual hand’ is often infuriating. Plus, like the other Pro Flight peripherals it makes you take your focus off of your screen and onto a physical object slightly in front of you. This adds to the overall feeling of depth and immersion you get with the sim making for a wholly more enjoyable experience.

The Pro Flight Multi Panel also has some other features which make a sim-jock’s best friend. The largest of these features is the large trim wheel on the panel’s right side. When flying an aircraft, this trim wheel allows you to adjust the trim of the elevators which control pitch. By using these slight adjustments you can fly straight and level without much user-control of the yoke. Usually in flight simulators you have to use some virtual trim wheel or a combination of key strokes to achieve this. The problem is that without the tactile feedback of an actual wheel, control like that is too imprecise to be useful. This larger and real wheel on the panel allows for very subtle changes in aircraft trim. It is the first time I have been able to successfully use pitch trim in my entire flight sim history.

The second problem I encountered with the Multi Panel actually had to do with its plastic mounting bracket. Like the other Pro Flight panels it just feels a bit too shaky, especially when stacked up two or three panels high. The flex in the plastic mount makes me instinctively want to brace the panel with my hand when pressing buttons. Thankfully on this panel the buttons that do exist do not require much forward force to activate. The rest are either knobs or toggles which did not seem to make the bracket flex very much.

Aside from the autopilot and trim controls, the Multi Panel offers you a toggle switch to control the extending and retracting of your aircraft’s wing flaps. Since precise control of these is done by increasing or decreasing them in incremental amounts, keyboard control usually works fine. However, it is still a nice addition to the panel which adds a bit more realism to the experience.

Like the rest of the Pro Flight line, installing the Multi Panel is extremely simple. Install the software from the included CD-ROM and plug it into USB 2.0 port. It is pre-configured to integrate into Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X and requires no additional programming or button-assigning.

For the ultimate in autopilot controls as well as some other very valuable tools to make your experience as a sim-jock more realistic, and actually easier in the process, Saitek’s Pro Flight Multi Panel is an indispensable tool in the home cockpit.

Multi Panel Official Product Page

Hot off my last review of Saitek’s Pro Flight Instrument Panel, I took a look at their Pro Flight Radio Panel. While gauges are fine and good, at some point you are going to need to communicate with the ground to do such important tasks as check request a flight following, acknowledge nearby traffic, or even something as simple as put in a request to taxi to the runway.

Microsoft’s Flight Simulator series has never been great at giving the player the ability to change their multiple frequencies. Usually I pause the game and fiddle with the mouse cursor, which acts my pilot’s ‘virtual hand’, to adjust the small and large increments to get them just right. This is just not fun and it generally ends with me doing auto-station flips via the on-screen ATC communication menu.

I can safely say that my radio issues have crashed and burned thanks to the new Pro Flight Radio Panel. In this peripheral, Saitek has designed a very good recreation of the basic radio stack found in civil aircraft. It features four bright LED readouts in the center of the panel as well as two heavy-duty mode select knobs on the left of the unit. To the right side of the radio panel you will find the macro and micro-adjustment knobs and standby buttons. The construction of the frame is in keeping with all of the Saitek Pro Flight panels and is a heavy-duty black plastic.

Its mounting frame which gets screwed into other Pro Flight peripherals (most likely the Pro Flight Yoke) is still a bit flimsier than I would like to see but it doesn’t get too much in the way. Using the Radio Panel is very simple. After mounting the unit where you like, simply install the included software and you will be all-set to use it in FSX (Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X). It is really that easy to get up and running.

Loading up FSX, I start on the parking area at KRAL (Riverside Municipal – my hometown’s airfield). I then bring the map and begin to plan my flight. For today’s excursion I plan on arriving at Orange County’s John Wayne-Airport (SNA). Its a short flight and going by visual flight rules I don’t expect any real delays or problems. Clicking on the two airports I write down both their control tower and ground frequencies. My short-range setup is to have my departure airfield as COM1 and arrival airfield as COM2. Manipulating the dials on the right of the top panel, with the left knob selecting ‘COM1’, I reach KRAL’s ground channel and hit the ‘standby’ button, which switches the ‘active’ and ‘standby’ frequencies with the other. This system allows you to setup a frequency in-flight, if you like, before you actually need to switch over to it. So with KRAL’s ground frequency as the active one and its tower frequency in the standby position, COM1 is all setup. I follow the same algorithm to setup COM2 with SNA’s ground and tower frequencies.

Thankfully, the Radio Panel is responsible for a whole lot more than just your COM channels. You can also setup your NAV frequencies in the same manner! In addition, Saitek has had the forethought to add additional modes like your transponder frequency as well as DME and ADF frequencies – very vital things to have so handy in navigation.

The added-convenience and tactile-feedback provided by this panel is incredible. In the image below, you can see the radio panel glowing in all its glory in lower-light conditions.

The worst issue with the Radio Panel is that even though the frequency adjustment knobs have detents built-in to give you tactile feedback when turning them, they do not always match up to the frequencies. Sometimes, you will find that you hit the frequency you are looking for in-between knob detents, forcing you to wiggle the metal control a bit until it aligns correctly.

While some would argue that the Radio Panel’s $149 dollar price point is expensive, I would say that when you look at other panels of the same function you are actually saving money by using the Saitek model in your home cockpit. GoFlight sells a larger panel of similar function and it retails for over a thousand dollars. While it is of more realistic construction than the Pro Flight Radio Panel, for the average virtual pilot you are getting a whole lot more out of your dollar with Saitek’s peripheral.

Overall, the Saitek Pro Flight Radio Panel is an excellent addition to the Saitek Pro Flight range and to your home ‘pit. It provides a ton of convenience in giving you easy-to-access radio frequencies as well as provides a new level of realism in your home cockpit with its crisp LEDs and tactile feedback.