Welcome aboard! Thanks for the feedback. If I may be so bold as to speak to the intentions of the developer…
It was considered easy enough to bypass the FBO experience by just changing views to the cockpit (however you choose to do so). (The FBO has no impact on FPS when it’s not used, nor any perceptible impact on loading time.)
The state management is all custom via the Airframe Manager (pops up upon loading career mode and available via the menu bar), and I don’t think AviTab has any means of extending its functionality in this way, nor would it seem necessary. Not providing out-of-the-box states as you suggest was also deemed unnecessary, as saving one’s state in the exact phase one wants is easy and more flexible. It was important to encourage new users to go through the learning process at least once, and the documentation and virtual F/O was included to assist in that regard.
Noted.
Thanks.