Hang in there Guard!
A lot of it is luck.
Some nights I fly great... and get my butt kicked. If I go high... someone is higher. If I go in to attack, there are 4 bandits just out of view who pounce on me. I go into a fight with my drop tank selected instead of cannons. The phone rings at a bad time. My neighbor's kitchen catches on fire, and I put the plane on autopilot to go help, and come back to find plane spiraling down in flames (this really happened).
But sometimes it's the other way. My flying is mediocre or poor but I survive and get lots of kills. Tonight... I died on a Jabo sortie, but after that I had 3 sorties, 18 kills, 1 bailout. But I was flying like crap!!!
This is not false modesty. I was getting super lucky. Bandits were flying into the ground around me, getting hit by AAA, exploding from short .50 cal bursts, etc. Out of 18 kills I only had to "work" for about 5 of them. My squaddies are saying "WTG" and I say "What?", then I look down and see a bunch of kill award messages.
I'm sure the next time I log in I will get my butt kicked to compensate.
