I'm a flight sim junkie like your hubby and I can assure you that there's nothing more fascinating to do on a PC than flight simulation. Games get boring in a hurry. When you are actually navigating and "flying" the airplane through a specific set of manuevers with a "real" flight plan, using the instruments, it is a wonderful experience. 99% of the time when people think a flight sim is boring, it's because they haven't a clue at what's going on; imagine sitting in on an advanced math class such as non linear partial differential equations if you only could understand Algebra. It would all seem rather boring because you can only see the "surface". This is similar to what happens to people who stare at a flight simulator and just think it's like driving a car, etc... Actually, it's "infinitely" more complex; and fun if you stick with it and actually "learn" what's going on. Flying can NEVER be mastered; but you can always "do better" next time which keeps you coming back for more. It's not only good entertainment, it's educational as well. Time well spent.
The CH suggestions are good, but there are a myriad of others. If this is your husbands first set of real controllers, he'd probably be thrilled. Keep in mind that a very high fidelity set of gear can cost as much as several thousand dollars but 99% of most sim junkies can do just fine on $500 or less for a stick, throttle, and set of ruddder pedals. Most good contollers have programmability and the toe brakes on the rudder pedals is a great feature (same as like a "real plane")
Another idea is a Track IR2. These units sit on top of a monitor and bounce an infrared signal off the users head such that the view "out the cockpit" can be anywhere the pilot is actually looking. I've been simming for 20 years and it's safe to say that this device is the single greatest piece of hardware developed outside of the joystick for increasing the realism and level of "immersion" to the flight experience. Panning the views is often done with a thumbswitch or something similar -- the TIR makes this a very "natural" thing by letting the pilot "look around" just like in "real life"
I strongly suggest this product as an alternate or addition to your gift. It really is wonderful. Only about 1% of the people who try it don't like it, the other 99% are CRAZY about it...
http://www.naturalpoint.com
If your husband is specifically into the general aviation type MS sims, you may wanIt to try out the Microsoft simulation general discussion forum. You will probably get many replies here (best deals, etc.). Go to:
www.avsim.com.
Another good place is
www.simhq.com (this is more for "combat type sims though).
Try Amazon.com for the controllers, they might carry them. Otherwise, snoop around on the CH site to find a place to buy...
Also, you may want to pick him up a copy of IL-2, Forgotten Battles (FB is the sequal to "IL-2" and has many additional planes, maps, graphical enhancements, etc). It is the creme de la creme of WWII simulations (you get to fly high powered warbirds, etc). The flight and physics models are considered THE BEST to date and could provide him with endless hours of fun. Download this movie that someone made from footage from the sim and you'll see what I mean -- (there's very little editing) it's full of fabulous little details... Download "Retribution" and watch...
http://www.appy55.dsl.pipex.com/