Thrustmaster Resource Center

The Thrustmaster F-16 FLCS was the first high-end programmable stick from Thrustmaster. It was released in 1992 (as far as I know... correct me if I'm wrong ;) It's modelled after the stick found in an F-16 Block 50. It offers 4 4-way hats (with some programming tricks these can be used as 8-way), 4 buttons and a dual stage trigger.

The entire stick is made from plastic, but still its very durable. The quality is excellent, and the pots are OK too (something that's been a problem for a lot of other Thrustmaster products) The only downside is the less advanced programming, due to an older chip and older microcode. To fix this, check out the FLCS hardware tweaks page. Thrustmaster does not support these sticks anymore, since they aren't made anymore. However some shops (specially outside the USA) still sell them. It's a great stick, you can hardly go wrong with it.

Because of the older chip, this stick has an extra switch on the base. The switch is a toggle between download (allow writing to stick) and run (no writes allowed). Should you upgrade your FLCS using a F-22 Pro chip, this switch will function as a F-22 Reset switch (same effect as running the f22reset.exe program, letting your stick fall asleep) It's very useful if, after you made a mistake while programming and testing a script, you loose control over the keyboard ;) For more info on programming the stick, check out the programming section. Here's an image with all the button and hat names (print it out and keep it handy when editing files!)

Note: with the new digital chips by Bob Church you get even more programming options. And they also offer native Windows95 support!

For more information on the technical side, check out the F-16 FLCS hardware tweaks section. It gives more info on fixing things if something should brake. Can't get the parts you need? Check out the parts section for suggested alternatives.

All information on these pages are Copyright © 1999-2001 by Jan-Albert van Ree except where noted. None of the information may be republished in ANY format, unless explicit written permission has been obtained. The Thrustmaster name and logo are Copyright © of Guillemot