The Thrustmaster AVA F/A-18 Super Hornet is a fantastic flight stick that took my setup to new heights

1 week ago 5

The Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet is named perfectly because its commitment to realism does all the talking for it. This premium flight stick is a phenomenal piece of kit that will last you years.

Pros

  • +

    As close as we’ll get to dogfighting

  • +

    Weighty construction feels very premium

  • +

    Customizable with hardware tweaks

Cons

  • -

    Minor mapping issues in some games

  • -

    Occasionally slippy base plate

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Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet: One-minute review

If you’ve read our Thrustmaster Viper TQS Mission Pack review, you’ll know that flight sim tech is getting closer than ever to turning your setup into something plucked right from a fighter jet.

The Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet follows on that same line of thinking, dovetailing beautifully with its sister product while offering a fantastic flight stick in its own right, packed with input options and plenty of settings to tweak the game feel to your liking.

It’s ludicrously expensive, though. The review unit we’re testing is formed of multiple modular sections, with the company’s AVA base, a flight stick, and a base plate. These all combine in a nifty bundle for $579 / £450 (cheaper than buying them piecemeal) but it’s definitely an investment for a flight enthusiast.

It’s still hard not to be impressed. It’s a hefty stick, one that would feel right at home doing loop-de-loops in the sky, and it’s absolutely packed with inputs with switches, buttons, and triggers all over it.

If you’re looking to take your flight sim experience to new heights, it’s hard to look past, but don’t forget that the HOTAS X is a much more affordable, entry-level model that comes with a throttle – something the F/A-18 Super Hornet doesn’t have in the box.

Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet

(Image credit: Future)

Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet: Price and availability

  • List price: $579 / £450
  • Available worldwide
  • Offered in parts but this bundle is much cheaper

If you do want to pick up each part of the setup we’re testing here for the Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet, you can expect to spend a fair amount more, with just the baseplate alone coming in at $25 / £25.

That makes the bundle the way to go, and thankfully it’s easy to put together. It took me around five minutes to get everything hooked up, and the weight is a dead giveaway that it’s built to last, weighing in at 7.6lbs / 3.5kg once it’s put together.

The bundle includes the offset adapter, too, letting you tweak the angle at which the stick rests, either for realism or just for comfort.

Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet: Specs

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Price

$579 / £450

Dimensions

5 x 6.7 x 13.4 inches / 128 x 170 x 341 mm

Weight

7.6lbs / 3.5kg

Platforms

PC

Throttle included?

No

Buttons

19 buttons including 3x Hat Switches

Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet: Design and features

  • The base plate could do with better feet
  • Feels great to use
  • Satisfying inputs

As with the Viper TQS Mission Pack, it’s hard not to be in awe of the Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet once you unbox it.

It’s easy to put together, with a few screws attaching the AVA base to the base plate, and the stick basically screws on without any strenuous effort. It’s really easy to get started, too, since you just need to plug in your USB-C cable (included in the box) and you’re away.

Compared to the T Flight HOTAS I’ve been using for years, there’s a real weight to any movement on the Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet, and it makes flying feel more authentic as a result.

Button-wise, there’s a trio of hat switches. Two are at the top, while one rests under your thumb, and if the game you’re playing supports all of them you’ll have more buttons than you know what to do with. Two are four-way, while another is eight-way, and combined with physical buttons you have a whopping 19 on a stick that really doesn’t waste any space at all.

Everything feels great to press, and there’s enough effort needed to hit things like the rear buttons so that you won’t find yourself accidentally hitting them too often.

Special props should be given to the trigger, too, which registers full pulls and half pulls if your game supports that, and always feels great to pull whether you’re playing something more grounded or more fantastical.

Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet

(Image credit: Future)

Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet: Performance

  • Plug and play
  • Customizable innards
  • T.A.R.G.E.T. software is basically just for drivers

As with the Viper, Thrustmaster recommends using its T.A.R.G.E.T. software, but you can really just use it for the drivers and little else. I found everything was detected nicely in Windows’ own control panel for input devices, and that was a better spot for quick testing of deadzones and the like.

Flight sim fans may lean on it for preloading layouts built to approximate real flight controls, but as I’ve mentioned before, I fancy myself more of a Han Solo than an airline pilot, and the Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet helps fulfill those dogfighting dreams wonderfully - once you map controls.

If you’re using this and the Viper, games should switch to make the latter the secondary input, but it’s worth noting I ran into some bother as certain games mapped functions to the Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet that it doesn’t have access to, leading to a bizarre endless spin in the likes of Elite Dangerous and Star Wars: Squadrons. Remapping buttons did the trick, but if you’re worried you’ve got a dodgy unit, rest assured it’s a minor issue.

That aside, both games feel great when using the Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet. (Intentional) barrel rolls and locking onto TIE Fighters became second nature, even without using the Viper, and I found myself tinkering with the inner chassis just to get things dialed in.

The AVA base can be opened up with ease, letting discerning pilots adjust resistance, travel, and more. It’s easily done and adds a level beyond simple button remapping that experts will no doubt have an awful lot of fun with.

In fact, the only real complaint is that in the heat of the moment, as I pulled back on the stick, I found the feet on the baseplate didn’t give quite as much resistance as I had hoped. That could be down to me and having a relatively smooth-feeling desk, but it’s something to consider.

Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet

(Image credit: Future)

Should I buy the Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet?

Buy it if...

You’re a flying enthusiast
The price of admission is high, but this weighty stick has everything you could need for just about any flying title.

You’re a tinkerer
Digital aviation experts will no doubt delight in customizing the inner workings of the Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Don't buy it if...

You’re on a budget
Sadly, it’s not the cheapest stick around, making it likely to be out of the reach for more casual flying fans.

Also consider...

Still not sold on the Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet? Here’s how it compares to two similar products.

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Row 0 - Cell 0

Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet

Turtle Beach VelocityOne

Logitech T Flight Hotas One

Price

$579 / £450

$122.99 / £119.99

$99.99 / £89.99

Dimensions

5 x 6.7 x 13.4 inches / 128 x 170 x 341 mm

6.46 x 8.54 x 9.07 inches / 164 x 217 x 230 mm

10.43 x 10.39 x 9.53 inches / ‎265 x 264 x 242 mm

Weight

7.6lbs / 3.5kg

1.81lbs / 821g

5.73lbs / 2.06kg

Platforms

PC

PC, Xbox

PC, Xbox

Buttons

19 buttons including 3x Hat Switches

27

14

Axes

6

8

5

Throttle

Yes

No

Yes

Turtle Beach VelocityOne
As we mentioned in our Viper review, Turtle Beach’s VelocityOne is a slick stick (say that ten times, quickly), with an OLED display and a comfortable stick with plenty of inputs. It’s not as weighty, though, which makes it feel less premium.

For more information, check out our full Turtle Beach VelocityOne review

Logitech T Flight Hotas One
Our trusty fallback, the T Flight HOTAS remains a very comfortable stick with a throttle included, all for less than half the price of the F/A-18 Super Hornet. It works on Xbox One and Series X|S consoles as well.

For more information, check out our full T Flight Hotas One review

Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet

(Image credit: Future)

How I tested the Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet

  • Tested over a period of months
  • Used on a gaming PC with an RTX 4070 Ti
  • Tested with Elite Dangerous, Star Wars Squadrons, and Microsoft Flight Simulator

I’ve been testing the Thrustmaster F/A-18 Super Hornet for a couple of months, but the aforementioned remapping issues meant things took a little longer to settle than I’d care to admit.

Once that was sorted, though, it was off to the races (or airport?). I tested it with Microsoft Flight Simulator for some trans-Atlantic trips, but as I mentioned above, I mostly used it for dogfighting in Star Wars Squadrons or hauling space cargo in Elite Dangerous.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed February 2025

Lloyd Coombes

Lloyd Coombes is a freelance tech and fitness writer for TechRadar. He's an expert in all things Apple as well as Computer and Gaming tech, with previous works published on TopTenReviews, Space.com, and Live Science. You'll find him regularly testing the latest MacBook or iPhone, but he spends most of his time writing about video games at Dexerto.

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