Thanks a lot guys :)
Yes this lever pulls out as is.
What you describe can be achieved by the same principle as mine but a little bit different:
Basically you need two shafts which fit into eachother perfectly.
Interesting sorting this stuff out :D
OT:
Panel fitted and working. Except the top locking switch isn't working for some reason... As it's a PITA to remove it from the cockpit (wired into the leo bodnar behind the " AHCP-XL") I'll lay it to rest for the day and sort it out at a later date..
The LED's are wired, all that's needed is to pull an ethernet cable from the gear panel to the phidgets board. Why do you ask?
The gear panel is on the LEFT of the cockpit and the phidgets is on the RIGHT of the cockpit. So as to not route three million wires through the cockpit I thought it would make more sense to pull ONE cable through. Looking through various cables the RJ45 cable made sense (I love planning ahead!) as it has 8 "cables". So back when I was building the complete cockpit I installed an RJ45 breakout board into the phidgets compartment, and now installed an RJ45 breakout board in the gear panel. All it needs now is a cable in between and it should work :)