Weird thing I've seen is putting a bunch of hits into a guy, watch him fly off, and blows up a second or two later. No fire, no other apparent damage. Net lag? Pilot wounded and taking a second or two to die (I had that happen once, where I died before I could land)?
I'm frequently a victim of the pingless insta-death. Then again, I've done it once or twice, two (had a Tiffie in a vertical looping fight where we kept going front-quarter, and I snapped off a half-second shot, thought I missed, and when I pulled up and looked back to track his position saw his plane flying apart).