Great read!
What I would give to fly that simulator in the picture...
I feel like I could actually do it!
As one of my unit's engine run trainers (there are 3 of us on base) I train our maintenance guys how to perform maintenance engine runs and emergency procedures. After class room and a couple of tests I get to take these guys to our simulator for simulated runs and emergency procedures before we go out to a real jet to do some runs, and then I certify them. After I run them through my tests in the sim I usually "pull chocks" and tell them they have the jet to do whatever they want for a little bit. I can tell the guys who have no flight sim experience because they can take off but then it's all downhill from there.
My first time in the A-10C sim after my runs I took off, flew around a little, and did a perfect landing and taxied back to my spot. I took off again, flew around some, and once again had a perfect landing...but then my buddy yelled GO AROUND! I didn't carry enough ground speed since I was slowing up but I tried anyway. Got wheels up right before the dirt after the runway but then tried to turn and stalled and crashed.
Another guy was flying it around and started asking questions so I talked him through his flight and he landed perfectly.
I've never flown anything for real other than taking the yoke in a Cessna with a friend once but flew PC flight sims for years before. I didn't think it was that special to fly and land in our USAF simulator until I realized that our pilots use the sim for actual training and part of it counts in their log books. So yeah, the A-10C is easy to fly and most everyone here could probably do okay.
The F-16 simulator on the other hand was a little tougher. I got to try that a few times when we had F-16s a few years ago. I bounced my first landing and damaged the gear but managed to survive. After that I flew it a few more times and landed just fine. Takes a little more finesse with the 16 compared to the Hog.