I finally got to actually spend some time with the demo, and the deadzone really is obnoxious.
It has nothing to do with the controllers. It is programmed into the game. If you take the Ace Edge or Aviator and plug it into the PC you will find that the control itself actually has no deadzone.
How they could make a sim game, that is so obviously going to cater to people using a flight stick , and not offer a deadzone adjustment is baffling.
.