[Bounder!]

I manage to do it ok, you said you use track ir and that's what I use and get a good view of the compass in the air - I don't move the flight yoke at all as you want to stay straight and level whilst adjusting.

I usually start in the zoomed out FOV, I just sit up a bit, lean to the far left, move forward a bit and then look diagonally downwards and inwards towards the compass and I get a good enough view to set the compass. The trick is holding course steady whilst setting the compass and directional indicator.