Yeah BC I don't have many gripes with this sim either. The AI and Ubersniper gunners is an annoyance; flying an offline mission and return to base to see half your flight fly right into a mountain

is one part that gets me. If the AI were better offline would be loads better. Its still enjoyable now but seeing stuff like that sort of ruins the experience for me.
The sounds could be better, but then I am not the programmer faced with modelling so many different engine types.
The GUI for the game could be a little better; maybe devide the aircraft into countries of origin or something so you don't have to scroll, scroll, scroll, then mis-click and have to do it over again.
Lacking 6DOF is something that I'd thought about, but it took a hacker to illustrate better than any explanation why it isn't implemented, and so I'm happy enough to wait for BoB and properly modelled cockpits.
But thats my short list, and I think its pretty complete. Like you, this sim has been on my hard drive a lot longer than any other software.
Looking forward to what the future holds for Oleg, and his vision for what flight simming aught to be
Cheers
Triad