How do I set up the Honeycomb Bravo in X-Plane 12?

Connect the Honeycomb Bravo before starting X-Plane 12, open Settings > Joystick, select the quadrant, calibrate all six lever axes, then assign its levers and buttons for the aircraft. Save those assignments as an aircraft-specific profile. Basic axes and buttons work natively; annunciator lights and advanced autopilot mappings may need compatible software.

Honeycomb Bravo X-Plane 12 setup steps

1. Fit the required lever handles. Choose the piston, turboprop or jet arrangement before calibrating. The interchangeable handles do not change which physical axis each socket reports.
2. Connect the Bravo before launching X-Plane. A direct USB port or properly powered hub is preferable if the device has been disconnecting. The axes and buttons normally work as standard USB controls without a separate driver.
3. Select the quadrant. Open Settings > Joystick and choose the Honeycomb Bravo from the connected-device tabs or selector.
4. Calibrate all six axes. Start calibration and move every lever repeatedly through its complete physical range. Do this even for unused levers, then follow X-Plane's remaining prompts. Do not use response curves to conceal incomplete calibration.
5. Assign each lever. Choose combined controls such as Throttle, Prop and Mixture, or numbered controls such as Throttle 1 and Throttle 2. Set unused axes to none.
6. Correct reversed movement. If the cockpit lever moves opposite to the hardware, enable Reverse Axis for that axis. This setting reverses the input direction; it does not configure reverse thrust.
7. Map the buttons and switches. Bind the flap lever, landing-gear lever, trim wheel, autopilot controls and desired toggle switches. Test each command in the cockpit rather than relying only on the assignment screen.
8. Create an aircraft profile. Keep piston, turboprop and jet assignments separate. Our aircraft-specific joystick-profile workflow explains how to prevent one layout overwriting another.

Which Bravo lever assignments should I use?

Use combined axes when one lever should operate every engine; use numbered axes when you need independent engine control. The physical order is a matter of preference, but the following arrangements match common Bravo handle layouts.

Do not assign both Throttle and Throttle 1/Throttle 2 for the same aircraft. Competing combined and individual assignments are a common cause of jumping levers and engines moving together. For more detail, use our numbered-engine throttle mapping instructions.

Add-on aircraft may replace X-Plane's standard propeller, mixture or condition-lever controls with custom commands or datarefs. If the assignment indicator moves but the cockpit control does not, consult the assignments supplied with that aircraft rather than repeatedly recalibrating the Bravo.

How should I bind the gear, flaps and autopilot controls?

The Bravo's non-axis controls should use commands that match the hardware's physical behaviour.

• Landing gear: assign the upper contact to gear up and the lower contact to gear down. Discrete up/down commands are safer than assigning a generic gear toggle to both positions.
• Flap lever: assign its two momentary directions to flaps up one notch and flaps down one notch. Aircraft with unusual flap systems may need their own commands.
• Trim wheel: it normally reports repeated button inputs rather than a true analogue axis. Assign its two directions to pitch trim up and pitch trim down.
• Toggle switches: use separate on and off commands where available. A latching hardware switch bound to a toggle command can fall out of step with the virtual cockpit after loading an aircraft or changing a state with the mouse.
• Autopilot buttons: map AP master, heading, navigation, approach, altitude and vertical-speed modes to the corresponding commands. The IAS button may represent airspeed or flight-level-change mode depending on the aircraft.

The REV button on the autopilot panel refers to reverse-course or back-course guidance; it has nothing to do with engine reverse thrust.

The IAS/CRS/HDG/VS/ALT selector and increase/decrease knob require more care. If the native profile does not already connect them, X-Plane sees selector states and encoder inputs but may not automatically make the encoder control a different value for each selector position. Use a compatible X-Plane 12 aircraft or device profile for that behaviour, or bind the encoder directly to one command pair such as heading increase/decrease.

How do I configure the Bravo reverser levers?

Bravo reverser inputs may appear as buttons, an aft axis region or both, depending on the fitted handles and aircraft implementation. Do not use Reverse Axis for this purpose; that checkbox only flips the direction of the entire lever.

Choose the method supported by the aircraft: hold reverse while a paddle is raised, toggle reverse, assign separate reverse commands per engine, or map a beta/reverse axis region. The practical differences are covered in our guide to reverser buttons, detents and axis ranges.

Why is the Honeycomb Bravo not working correctly?

Test the finished setup first with a default X-Plane 12 aircraft. If the Bravo works there but not in a particular add-on, calibration and USB detection are probably sound; the remaining issue is usually that aircraft's custom commands, datarefs or profile.