If you're a newbie. One thing you can do to increase your survival rate is learn the names of the best enemy pilots. Check the Roster and score under fighter. The guys you are looking for have a kill to death ratio of 5-1. If you see somebody land with 7 or 8 kills, i recommend you write down their name. You can BnZ these guys and get away with it, but you better do a good honest BnZ and get outta there if you don't kill em. Don't stick around and dog fight with one or you'll likely end up DEAD.
Don't return to a sector if you know a HOT SHOT enemy pilot is working there. Unless you come back in a superior plane with alot of altitude advantage (not too much though, about 4K should do it), so you can easily disengage. Like a P-57 versus a Zero. You don't wanna still be climbing struggeling to reach your attack altitude when you enter the sector. You wanna be level and fast to surprise these guys. They do tend to fixate though on other newbies who try to hide under their own flak at bases and CV's. So you might catch'em unaware. But my advise is to avoid em like the plague until you get some experience.
There are plenty of mediocre pilots out there you can practice on. And even the AI in the offline arenas will give you a run for your money. The advice about gaining experience by flying against the best in the MA is o.k, if you're interested in learning how to get yourself killed over and over again. Just my opinion.
