I bought my realflight sim a bout 15 months ago. I hadn't had it a week and my son knocked it off the computer desk.It didn't have any tension on the elevator after that. I took it apart and the encoder was also broken apart. I glued the encoder back and put the spring back on and it worked for about an hour. I sent it off and got a new one 2 weeks and fifty dollars later.I haven't had any more problems since.You have to pretty gentle with them.