In Flight
If the "End Sortie" option, from the clipboard is green, you will be awarded a safe landing when you chose to end the sortie.
During flight you can make adjustments to your input controls (Options->Controls->Map Controllers), which will take effect immediately. When you are happy with the controls, press the OK button to save them.
If you need to see what has been damaged during a fight, press <Ctrl><D>. This will list the damage you have sustained.
There is also auto-pilots available to handle mundane chores of long flights. Once in flight, <Alt><X> puts you in auto-climb mode, while <X> puts you in auto-pilot level flight. Moving any of your control axises will take you out of auto-pilot mode.
You can also set custom head positions in the cockpit of any plane. Pressing the "Home" key will put you in the default location lined up with the cockpit gun sight. From there, you can modify each of the view positions.
1) Select the view position you want to change and hold it there.
2) While holding that view, use the arrow keys next to the keypad to make adjustments. Use the "Page Up" and "Page Down" keys to adjust up and down, respectively.
3) Once you are happy with that view, press the "F10" key to save it.
Now when you go to that view in that plane, it will automatically use the custom view you saved. It is really important to do this for your six views, unless you like looking at the seat of the cockpit.