In all my time aces high, I have never gotten a collision in which my direction of travel was not straight at the enemy plane.
Sometimes I break off and it gives me a collision because I broke off too late.
Why?...........because my path was intersecting the enemy plane and any lag will cause it to continue toward the intersection.
I fly as if my control inputs are reaching the arena or enemy front end at least 1 second later and I rarely collide unless it is intentional.
You can't expect to miss a plane by 4 inches and not get a collision but you should feel grateful when it you do get away with it.
Break off earlier and if you observe buffs acting strangely, keep your distance especially when approaching from a plane flying straight and level from behind.
Lag is such that the course and control input of the plane determine where it will "lag to".
Level buffs will warp forward and back unless the enemy made a control input you did not see.....because of the lag.
A fighter in a hard turn that encounters lag will usually continue the turn until a new packet arrives stating otherwise.
If you're making a run on buffs from any direction, you are safer to break under them since most buff pilots will pull up if they move at all and lag may not let you see it happening until you get the collision after flying over them.
The only collisions I find unusual are the ones where a plane collides with a tank and flies off seemingly undamaged.