I found my joystick problem: in the options, ''keyboard assist'' was ticked ON.

but what is ''EO zoom'' or ''EO pan'' ?
is it the targeting pod ? (or front camera or whatever?)

Yes. Controls for the DTV and FLIR.
(When you want to spot the bad guys, without them spotting you. )

Does anyone use that?? I just keep my radar ON at all times!

I like to use it now and then. Like flying low along a river bed, pop up to take a look. It adds an extra sneaky element to things.

To be honest, I rarely "hunt" with optics.
But If I'm doing an assault, when I get in range I'll usually quietly take a look around first....then switch to radar, light 'em up, and let loose a ripple of hellfirey goodness.

Also, if I'm enroute and have been spotted and/or fired at, I'll duck down and flank the target, then use optics to find them and take them out. I don't really know if the game engine is smart enough to keep looking for me, or not? But it just seems like sound tactics, regardless.

Mostly FLIR.

There's no point in flying a stealthy copter if you're spamming electromagnetic radiation like an h-bomb.

It works well with pedals, whether you want auto crosscoupling or not.

One fascinating thing, it works VERY well with the Saitek x-65f and my GlovePIE scripts. Ridiculous. Like better than pressure/force sensing works with fixed wing aircraft, or standard throw joysticks work with GlovePIE and EECH. The whole auto trimming and trim update thing seems seamless with it, feeling similar to Longbow 2 on it. Very strange sensation of lucidness. Totally natural. Looks like the Comanche SAC. Works better than anything has before in EECH... other than the obvious roll issue, which I scripted that work-around for. And the ability to change forces on the fly to adjust sensitivity and "weight" puts it over the top. I don't much care for this force sensing thing for fixed wing except for WWII Fighters, which is a blast (the nose trim On helps). But Enemy Engaged, PPJoy, and GlovePIE are a match made in heaven. Hovering is a little tough, but you have the ability to force wings level (a real Comanche autopilot mode, so clear trim works the same way), not to mention the two auto hover holds.

I need to get some X65f profiles made up. Right now all I have is F4AF. Comanche Gold works fine without needing one so far. So much work. I wish there was a conversion program. EECH is screaming for one, though. The possibilities of where to put everything on it. Lordy. The PS/2 cable is poorly shielded and in need of ferrite core chokes (I have some on the way from DigiKey), but if you have pedals its effect on the twist calibration is moot, obviously. That also helps the difficulty in contaminating inputs when trying to hover and twist at the same time. If you have Track IR you could always mix the top rotary with the twist, since you'll have them freed up (I use them for view panning), as I did on the Blackshark GlovePIE for the X52.

I do notice some of my helos are missing needles and the Viper helo seems to be using the stock EEAH Apache pit. Not sure if that's normal. It's been almost a year since I've been simming.