Here’s a video of an RC helicopter being controlled by a SpaceMouse. The interface seems to be much more natural than the 2-stick “Mode 2” control that we RC pilots typically use. It looks like they are using a computer as the interface to the SpaceMouse, but older controllers have serial ports, and per the comments in this other video, it seems possible to use an old, serial space mouse or SpaceBall, perhaps with an Arduino bridge to a trainer port.

I’m starting to collect research on the subject in the form of a shared Evernote notebook.