I think this is excellent! Only thing is, would the throttle work on that side? The stick looks to be right handed, so having the throttle on the right would mean you'd need to take you hand off the stick, so maybe flip the stick / throttle round? *i have no idea about planes so just guessing!*
I don't think that rotation is necessary. A three point stance is plenty stable, and I don't think those things would really work as skis. Seems like it makes it less sturdy and needlessly complex. I realize the overall ship isn't exactly a realistic design either, but that rotating strut kind of stands out as a useless…