Always one to have a grip on things, Kevin Williamson of Tosten Manufacturing showed us a nifty prototype haptic stick grip at his AirVenture booth.
Haptic is a twenty dollar word meaning “anything related to the sense of touch,” and in Tosten’s case this means the stick grip buzzes when provoked. For now Kevin has his haptic grip connected to a simple base with a switch, the better to demonstrate its effect. Pull the stick back to the stop—as if you were commanding full up elevator—and the stick sets to buzzing like a box full of metallic bees upset about the price of honey. It doesn’t rumble or shake—a word Kevin very much prefers to avoid—but rather tingles your fingers and palm with a fairly high frequency buzz.
The idea is to integrate the buzz function to angle of attack information. Start dancing on the feathered edge and once over a threshold the grip will shake. It seems the buzzing is binary. That is, there is no ramp up of the haptic effect; it’s either on or off.
Kevin says there’s still work integrating to AoA systems but guestimates the haptic feature will be on sale in early 2026. Thanks to pricing volatility—and possible tariffs—it’s far too early for exact pricing, but adding haptic input to any of Tosten’s existing line of stick grips won’t be an outlandish expense.
More information: tostenmanufacturing.com
