It´s the concept of different realities..
Hits on an aircraft just follow the same mechanism as collisions: If the shooter hit his target on his computer (HIS reality), then a message with corresponding info about damage & location is send to his enemy´s computer. As we all should know by now our enemy does not see our plane at the same time & place we do see ourself. He is shooting at that "drone" we are towing behind us.
I have a ping to server of about 150ms. When i review my films, I always see my enemies shooting at a seemingly "empty" space of air approx. 10-50 feet ( depending on total lag) behind me. When I am hit, I never see hit sprites on my screen. But thats just because of internet lag, there is no way you can get rid of this.