I recently bought a new old stock CH Flightstick.

I can recommend it in terms of comfort and ease of calibration. Note that it only has 2 buttons + throttle. Works great for my needs, but some people might prefer a hat switch. The Pro model does have that, but those are rarely found in mint condition, at least in my neck of the woods.

How odd that you can't center the Thrustmaster.

I've got a Sidewinder 3D Pro and a CH F16. The Sidewinder has richer features, but the CH is in another league for build quality and feel.

Yes, the couple of games I've tried with the Thrustmaster even after running calibration routines it always gradually loses calibration and goes off-centre and ends up constantly drifting. Despite the 'quality' feel, it doesn't seem particularly accurate.

I've found a couple of reasonably priced Flightstick Pro's... I might see if I can pick one of those up.

Original sidewinder 3d pro has always worked for me

Thrustmaster F-16 FLCS. And for a really good setup that you can program, get the WCS Mk II throttle and then you will also want the pedals.

I think I have a saitech cyborg somewhere at my parents house. I don't know if it was good but way better than those excuses for sticks I had for the Amiga.

Tracked down a CH Flightstick Pro for not a lot of money. It arrived today, haven't had an opportunity to try it yet, but other than absolutely stinking of smoke (the whole thing has now been thoroughly doused in citrus antibacterial cleaner) its in good condition - moves freely, nice resistance on all directions, buttons feel responsive.

I'll have to fire up Wing Commander this evening and give it another go.

Nice catch! I also had my share of hardware that came from smokers and unfortunately, the smell is extremely difficult to get rid off.

A while ago, I bought a SNES gamepad that was similarly reeking of cigarettes. I had to completely disassemble it, wash the plastic parts with dish detergent and thoroughly scrub the PCB with isopropyl alcohol. That took out most of the smell, but it's still faintly present at times.

Well, after being thoroughly cleaned and calibrated.... here's the evidence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD18i0whLgU

Looped the Wing Commander 'Dralthi' sim missions on the first go 😀 We can safely conclude that the joystick works perfectly.

Great purchase! I've been using the same FlightStick Pro since the the mid '90s. Rock solid and has always felt great.

Before that I had couple of Thrustmaster FCS and they ended up drifting and or breaking. CH products were definitely a step above at the time!