You are brilliant. I have a USB keyboard that fits behind my HOTAS on my lap when I'm spamming other random players ("Know any good pizza places around here?")
Are you sure it doesn't work? This is actually what I came to tell you guys about, because I got it working in Titanfall 2, so I can play Pilot with my controller and drive Titan with my stick & throttle, but then again, my HOTAS is.....ahem......"nonstandard". I DID notice that on the copilot screen, you can scroll left and right, so is it possible that it's showing 2 gamepads, and you're just looking at the wrong one? I had to swap my sticks to get HOTAS to work, and at first I swapped it on the wrong controller. If you can navigate the dashboard with the HOTAS, then I would think the Xbox is "seeing" it.
My original idea, and why I came here, was the notion of flying with the HOTAS and driving the SRV with the controller.
Also, my stick has suction cups on the bottom, making it a little bit more feasible, but the way I play is with the HOTAS between my legs, where I sit on the couch. I use an item called a "fracture bedpan" flipped upside down (you know how when you're about to come home from the hospital and hurriedly grab everything unused, because it's all gonna get thrown away anyway?) that I flipped upside down. The pointy end goes into my crotchious area, and I cross my ankles when I sit, so the stick rests nicely on top, angled toward me (the bulk of the pan rests on the insides of my calves), and I can just uncross my legs and set it down when I need to get up. Throttle sits right next to me on the couch. I've been playing that way since the Ace Combat 6 days.
http://lghttp.30059.nexcesscdn.net/...209c6bb28e1b7731856/f/r/fracture-bedpan-2.jpg
Hopefully you can picture what I mean. It's not perfect, but I played so much Steel Talons in my younger days, I got spoiled having the collective front and center!
I
do actually own a full Playseat racing seat setup, but that's more for special occasions when I'm playing racing games. I play wayyy too much Elite, plus hopping to other games, so couch it is!
Edit: I can post a pic later, if it's too hard to visualize.