Lets approach this from another angle.
Those wanting both parties to take damage let me try and paint you a pictures of what you're asking for and how you'll hate what you want.
One day in the MA you're flying along to go PwN some NeWbzOoRS when a plane, lets say a P51, dives attempting to HO you. Now you have time to react and nose down and dive away, clearly avoiding the HO by a hundred feet or so. On your screen you miss the P51, however, a second after the pass your right wing falls off and you receive the message "ExamplePlayer1337 has collided with you." So there you are, on the way to a death even though you CLEARLY avoided the enemy plane.
I'd be willing to bet a months subscription that those of you who want this changed would be back in here the same week it went live BEGGING for HT to rollback the system to the previous method.