I would say they are playing war thunder's mini FSO pug deathmatches slaughtering the legions of mouse flyers in full realism or historical most likely if they are playing airplane mmos and not playing ah. the gameplay is limited and it is a blatant ripoff of everything every edition of IL2 had from a third party that had access to il2 but its pilot/crew development and aircraft perk purchase system is interesting. its flight model in of itself is good but its data for individual planes is a joke. 5000fpm f4us that cant turn, are incorrectly textured and horrible cockpits that make gunnery a nightmare are a sample of the details the game lacks that AH has iin spades. but the games little touches to its world and the detail of the experience of flight is quite compelling in spite of its problems.
ah still has the best flight modelling, best useable cockpits, best 3d airplane models and skins, best detail under the MMO arena hood but going back and forth the visual eye candy of the world ah gives vs the competition has become somthing of an eyesore in terms of atmospherics, visual effects and ground and sky detail to the point that it can no longer suspend ones disbelief of virtual flight.