To me the analogy is that of a stick and rudder airplane. The stick controls pitch and bank; the rudder controls yaw. Slap the climb over the yaw stick is okay-ish.
I just wished that the pitch could be locked in position to maintain a constant chosen speed. Even better would be a preset speed "intent" and a button to engage the intended speed (call it 'cruise'). thence hitting the button again would initiate a gentle slow down - or the pilot could haul back on the pitch to brake hard.