The site that aims to introduce and teach you to use the X-Plane 12 Flight Simulator.
This site won’t teach you how to fly but it will help you get the most out of X-Plane
Here you’ll find the full range of my X-Plane e-book handbooks, ready to buy and download directly.
You can also browse 15 different Tip categories or search the entire growing library of weekly X-Plane 12 tips
This week’s tip:
- What Are “Throttle Horizontal Up/Down a Bit”?
Scroll through Settings → Keyboard → Engines and you’ll find two commands that sound like they’re for a throttle lying on its side:
- Throttle horizontal down a bit (default F4)
- Throttle horizontal up a bit (default F5)
They sit right next to the familiar Throttle down a bit (F1) and Throttle up a bit (F2). So what’s the difference?
It’s all about what the engine is for
X-Plane can split engines into two kinds of job:
- Vertical engines hold the aircraft up, like a helicopter’s main rotor or a VTOL’s lift fans or lift jets.
- Horizontal engines push the aircraft forward, like a pusher propeller on a compound helicopter or the cruise engines on a VTOL that has separate lift engines.
Think of a hovercraft. One fan blows downward to keep you afloat, and a big fan at the back pushes you along. You want separate controls for each. Otherwise every time you speed up you’d also rise, and every time you slow down you’d drop onto the car park.
The horizontal throttle commands control only the “push forward” engines, so you can change forward speed without touching the engines holding you up. X-Plane also has matching Throttle Vertical and Throttle Horizontal axes in the joystick settings for the same reason.
What does this mean for normal aircraft?
On a conventional aeroplane, whether a Cessna, a 737 or a turboprop airliner, every engine is a “push forward” engine, so X-Plane treats them all as horizontal. That means F4 does exactly the same as F1, and F5 does exactly the same as F2. Use whichever pair falls more easily under your fingers.
The difference only shows up on aircraft that have both lift and thrust engines like the Default Alia 250. There, F1/F2 move all the throttles together, while F4/F5 move only the forward-thrust ones.
Bonus tip: to drive all engines from one physical lever, assign your axis to Throttle, not Throttle 1, 2, 3 or 4. X-Plane then sends it to every engine.
Next time you see F4 and F5 in the key list, you’ll know they’re not for flying sideways.
Second Tip: Here is a short Alia 250 introductory tutorial from Austin Meyer