This is something that bugs me slightly - STO's 3D ship models are lovely but sometimes I have issues lining up DHCs in a fast paced dogfight because the player's line of sight does not align with the ship's centreline. So it's always something like firing from the hip.

What would be very nice (and canon) I might think, is a pilot or first person camera on a fixed position above the hull itself, such as those awesome shots of the Defiant doing loops mid-battle in the later seasons of DS9.

The level of detail per ship easily supports close-up viewing, especially with bump-mapping on. Also the FP view would create a useful 'boresight mode' for flying escorts fighter pilot style.

I actually am not asking for a fanciful HUD but something like the ground combat aim mode would do excellently as a "chewing gum stuck on the viewscreen" for DHC targeting

This would be a lot of fun and bring me closer to mastering the way of the pew pew.

I have to ask though, have you tried setting your camera to chase mode so it sticks to your ships aft?

putting your ship in FPS mode would give you that tunnel vision and probably gimp your situational awareness which can come in handy especially flying an escort. I think maybe an indicator light that triggers when your firing arc is lined up

Not exactly what you want but, holding both L and R mouse buttons, while piloting, will lock your camera into a center position and allow you to maneuver in a similar way to ground combat.

You could also go into Options/Controls/Camera Type : Chase Camera

I like the the idea of a firing arc tone but for now, if it'll help, they have a 3D arc grid that appears when you hover the mouse pointer over any weapon on your HUD for a couple of sec.

hover you mouse over the cannons to see the arc and if the ship is in it

You have any idea how hard it is to see that firing arc in the middle of a pitched battle against a cube (or against any particularly feisty opponent, including in PvP), where you're keeping an eye on your skills, your piloting, as well as whatever the cube/other guy is doing? Not to mention background colors and flashes from the graphics.

Just sayin'. . .maybe they could make it more distinctive, at the very least. Especially for those who leave their weapons on autofire, and often have little reason to hover their mouse over the weapons except to activate them on a target.

with this approach, I am afraid that you might not see incoming heavy plasma torpedoes coming at your 6.

i would like the first person view on shuttles and fighters only ,Id like PvP with shuttles in locked first person view.

This. The whole 'but I want to see the main view screen' thing doesn't really work since they never used that to Nav in combat anyway. It would be like trying to pilot a fighter jet with only a tank's driver's port to look out of.

I fly an escort and know quite well how hard it can be to use in combat. I don't find a need for it simply because I've gotten used to lining up my ship without it.

I was just pointing out that for people who have an issue with lining up their DHC's, this is the closest thing we have to what the OP is requesting. Is it ideal? No.

This may be difficult for "some people" but, "I" personally don't find it any more difficult to hover my mouse over my weapon HUD than it is to hover over my ability icons.

If you leave your weapons on auto-fire, then you have no need for an arc warning or display. You turn to your target until the weapons start to fire. Problem solved. The firing arc warning would mostly be useful for people who fire manually such as a torp that needs to be timed correctly to bypass shields.