RAM, I'm not comparing it to AH's view system.
Of course, AH does a much better job. You get way more information in real life flying a plane than you can ever get in a simulation.
For example, take your Lagg-3 screenshot. Notice the glass behind the headrest? They didn't put it there to make it look like a racing plane, you should (but can't in this game) be able to lean your body more and look through all of that glass behind the head rest. Yes, it's possible. I've flown in a number of planes, including gliders, and these FIXED views simply can't touch the way AH does it. Giving the user the ability to scroll his view point through each of the snap views gives you more information and is closer to actually flying a real plane since you can move your torso, head, neck and even use your arms to hold onto a part of the cockpit so you can further adjust your body.
If AH placed limits on how far beyond a certain point you can move your head, (I'm not talking a few key presses, but about 3/4s of the way each view can be moved right now) then AH would win hands down on how to properly give a real world view, peripheral vision and in simulating a pilot's ability to move his body to look around.
As is, everything(with one exception) is a far cry from giving a perfect representation of how much a pilot can actually see in the real world- AH is that exception.
-SW