Well, after a year and a half, I unplugged my Cougar last night... got tired of the 80-lb spring return on the thing (and I had even swapped out the springs with lighter ones). The new sensitive FM in AH2 is too unforgiving to be needing to jerk the stick out of the center detent... I've been getting into far too many spins because of it, and fine aiming is almost impossible.
So I had a CH fighterstick that's sat in a closet for a couple of years, never used. I plugged it in and spent a couple of hours programming the buttons. What a difference! I can actually aim and keep the planes upright now. So it looks like I'll probably be leaving it in this configuration for good.
Anybody have any good tips, hints, or cautions about this stick?