I'm an ok pilot I think, but I don't have many air to air kills yet.

And I won't unless I get more practice against real living pilots.

It's like the first time you played counter-strike, you have to grit your teeth and read some guides and study what you did wrong with each death and what other people were doing right. Ok sure, you might have a 1-10 kill ratio. But it should change if you're learning anything. And it probably won't change overnight.

All that being said, air-to-air combat requires "techniques" and mental sharpness that are not present in most 3d fps, because most fps are not air combat games. Here's how you can determine if you're really trying to learn or not. Answer the following questions

- What determines whether or not you can see your enemy on your radar in BF1942 (besides horizontal range)?
- What is the best tactical attack vector?
- When you fly air to air combat, how often do you make a conscious effort to "shadow" or pair up with a team-mate, whether they know it or not?
- Once you're done a run against an enemy aircraft, and you don't think they're turning onto your tail but you don't know exactly where they are either, what's your best move?
- What is "deflection"?
- What is the Thatch Weave?

If you guys suck at air-to-air, please leave the map in. This way I'll have someone whom I at least have half a chance at shooting down, so I can feel good about myself. (On other servers where the enemy has 2-3 *really* good pilots, flying is basically suicide, it'd be nice to have a place to learn in relative safety )

Of course all of this presumes that the new 0.7 has made the game perform a little better in hairballs. No point playing a map where a lot of us get 2 fps. :P