The hardest part is keeping it level, especially if you don't have sliders for trim.
I never use the little sliders on my joystick. I leave them in one place, calibrate the stick, and then don't mess with it. If I need to trim the aircraft I use the keys for the actual control surface trim tabs. In aircraft that lack them for the roll axis, e.g. Bf 109, Spitfire, throttle control works great to take the pressure off the stick when you're not maneuvering in combat.
Btw, the Il-2 hating that comes up in a thread like this gets really old. It's the same way when someone brings up AH in the Il-2 forums: everyone has to give examples for what they don't like about it.