Having a qualification doesn't mean anything. There are so many graduates with law degrees that know nothing about law. When you actually work as an engineer then you can claim to be one. Until you do that you're just someone who may or may not get a nautical engineering qualification. That you've taken 10+ years or so far sadly probably makes you unemployable.
If I were an engineer I'd be insulted by your claim. If you're going to accuse others of BS make sure you don't say it yourself... And regarding the F16 joystick why don't you ask about it on the
www.F-16.net forums then if you're right you can link to the answers and we can all agree you are right. If they confirm you are wrong then you can apologise to Fjordmonkey.
Hood