An Affordable Airbus Autopilot! Simple FCU Review with a Real Airbus Pilot

Here we have the Simple FCU, an affordable 3D Printed take on the airbus Flight Control Unit, which is what we user to control the autopilot and flight guidance of the Airbus! Is it any good? In this video I take a look and take it for a spin, show it working and give you my thoughts!

I am a real world Airbus pilot with thousands of hours flying the real aircraft and thought it would be fun to have a look at the detailed simulations of the 'bus in MSFS and X Plane. Hopefully you find this useful and it brings another perspective to your simulation. Any thoughts or comments are welcome!

This video is intended for home entertainment only and does not reflect or represent any real world aircraft or airline procedures. It is for home flight simulator enthusiasts only and has no real world application. All views expressed are my own.

[PianoLearnerChannel]

A great and balanced review. I like it, Looking at the price of other products on the market I think it's a fair price given the work that's gone in to develop it and the functionality. I think if they can find a way to manufacture a complete unit, even if they need to charge more for that, then they will massively open up the market.

[hand]

I'd only buy it complete. It's a pity because I'd really like one.

[Michael-zfko]

I was interested up until you said it needs to be 3D printed and soldered. Yea sure, it's cheap except for the fact that you'll need to drop a couple extra hundred for a 3D printer and filament along with a bit more on soldering tools and supplies. They could've at least made the case out of injection molded panels you glue together.

[caseyjones]

You could take the reprogramming of the buttons a stage further and move the actual physical buttons around a bit, so that you eventually end up with (from L to R): FD, LS, A/THR, LOC, APP. In other words, very close to the real aircraft. I see what people mean about the cost - it's clearly more expensive than the sum of the parts - but you have to consider their development costs. Also, making the thing, putting it together and reconfiguring it to suit one's own preferences could be quite fun for some people; worth paying for.

[ifr-ed]

Nope. Would have ordered it, but only when it ships complete.

[James_cooper_]

I like the idea of community engagement and DIY. Would be fun and a great feeling of accomplishment to put together and get working. However there are much better options out there in more complete packages. A bit more expensive yeah, but look a lot better and come as a finished product. Personally picking the java simulations glareshield pack this summer, slightly more affordable to the skalarki alternative. Thanks for the review! As always honest and impartial 👍

[kafka]

£130 for a bag of bits, make the box and solder up myself? Err no thanks!
Oh wait. *Checks date* nope not April 1 yet.

[flightdispatch]

Looks great and very functional. It’s brilliant you can customise it. I wish I knew how to 3D print! A good review

[CrashEd]

Whilst it may not be for everyone, I think this is a really good idea. What would be nice (it may already be included?) would be if they could provide the stl (3D printer) files for different switch options. That way you could choose your own selction of hardware switches and program them accordingly in Mobiflight.

[skw]

Great review, but as soon as I realised the extent of self-assembly and 3D printing involved then it closed the market to me... full 'out of the box' unit would be far more attractive to me and I'm guessing many others. Great review though, as always.

[sirkelzgaming]

Great video! Looks like a good product. Also loving your podcast I can’t wait for more. Suggestion, it would be super cool if you could do one of your podcasts with Emanual from 737ng. I think they would be great to see my too favorite tubers chat it up.

[der.Schtefan]

Isn't it that Fenix explicitly does not support external hardware because of licencing issues with the software models they are using? Btw: most countries have 3D printing services, sometimes electronics shops will 3D print files for you.

[matp]

This looks brilliant, take my money please

[GeorgeLumkin]

I think the price is fair, not guna be for everyone in kit form which is fine.

Not a scam or a rip off - those who say so, find me for less than double the price a similar custom airbus or Boeing etc specific flight sim controller product with the same number of displays and buttons,

or for less money if someone can post a list of the same quality parts, including the custom knobs buttons and stickers provided

[Lorien]

Looked great until i saw the price, thats just too much for what you get. For 90€ i would have ordered a kit just because i am too lazy to search for the parts to build it myself. That would still be a lot for the hardware and a few stl designs.

[pi.actual]

It's a good idea but honestly all you need is a row of the dials and switches that can be individually assigned. You really don't need to physically replicate the sim displays on a box which limits it's application and makes it less versatile. You could have a series of template labels and it could be used for many different aircraft.

[TKeez]

Next Video - LOL!!! Where can I buy one already assembled?

[jjstevenz]

i would say get rid of the AP2 button and put a FD

[caseyjones]

A couple of times you managed to select headings in excess of 360. That's a worry! A bit of software tinkering for the developers?

[augustedelstoff]

I saw the price and was happy first, but then when you don't own a 3D printer it's not possible