Guys
I am having exactly the same problem as the original poster, but I know what is causing it.
The only types of sensory feedback we get flying in the game are visual, aural, and tactile. Even those without force feedback, still get a response from the tension on the springs.
So that's three types of feedback, but it is more complicated than that, because each of those interact and combine with the others and we take our cues from the many permutations of all three, that we learn from experience.
The catch is everyone does it differently, some people depend on Aural feedback more than others, some are more visual, yet others more tactile. For example, some people can't live without force feedback, I hate it. Real pilots depend much more on physical feedback. Personally I depend a lot more on aural feedback in a game, and the new sound system has had a dramatic effect on my flying.
Many of us underestimate the importance of aural feedback and the impact this might have. It has an effect on sound quality and increased potential futher improvements to the game. But few of us were expecting the much more immediate impact it would have on our flying.
What's the answer?
That depends.... If nothing else changes, there are two choices. Firstly, you can start flying again, hard and often, and relearn the sensory cues. For those who depend heavily on the Aural feedback, it will be tough, and for those more dependant on the visual and tactile cues, they may not even notice any difference. Secondly, you could start downloading the various sound packs and use sound editors to recreate the sounds as you previously had them.
For my part, I've been using a combination of both and after a few hours (that I'll never get back) I'm already beginning to see that happy place on the horizon... I predict a few more days of tweaking and it will be as though nothing happened. I would compare this to the way your heart sinks after you lose all your game settings. You may never feel as though your stick and view settings were as good as they were, but it doesn't take you that long to get pretty darn close.
Hope that helps...
Badboy