I guess nothing can be more adequate than a comment from those who have seen the action themselves.
However still, there are some things to be considered. Even in real life, I'm pretty sure 'vulching' was a favorable form of attack on certain strict conditions - which brings it to the problem which haunts military pilots even today.
Sometimes, it is hard to set the line between vulching for inevitable/tactical purposes and strafing civilians and civilian structures - one example is the war in Korea, a backward country in the 1950s, where the modern form of city planning did not exist. Vast spaces of fields and hills, mountains, wilderness with scattered villages, woods and bushes, rice fields - practically no distinctions between civilian areas and military areas, since neither of them did not existed - at least in the modernistic sense.
The contradicting nature of military ethics - spawned from the fact that essentially military action is a justified and sanctioned form of use of lethal force - sometimes brings out serious problems. And especially, the method of ground attack known as 'vulching', has higher risks and dangers of such problems arising.
To be fair, I'm sure none of the people participating in the war had time, or practical need to think about such things. The purpose of war is to win, and many things are just buried under that ultimate purpose.
Vulching and ground attacks, may and probably would have caused unnecessary deaths to unnecessary people in various occasions - from the point of view to us who live outside of war today, I don't think it's anything glorious. But to those who were inside the warring environment, I'd like to think that they had no choice. Who knows whether or not the guy who's been left alive, would kill you the next day?
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From the gaming point of view, it's pretty much like HO. Also, the purpose of MA is to win by capture. Vulch is a necessity, and an effective way of suppression. There's no 'honor' in it, but come to think of it, there's no place for 'honor' in a warring environment.
Of course, being the target of vulch is frustrating. And sometimes you meet people who have no serious intention of capture - people who deack and attack a field, following vulch scene after vulch scene present in the arena, racking up kills. I myself have met a few whom I can swear that I haven't met in any place any time outside of a vulch - always getting shot down by the same guy in a same situation, those few people who you'll never see outside of a vulch
Using easy planes with lots of ammo, coming in with horde/alt advantage, vulch the crap outta field. They're usually the first to leap into a vulch, and also the first to run away from the scene, leaving all his countrymen behind, when the defenders organize a defense and strike back. Whilst their friends who suffered damage and losses in order to deack the target field is burning up in flames, those guys merrily land their kills, and go looking for another vulch scene!
Yup. That's pretty lame. Honorable? Certainly not.
But still, it's his way of flying and fighting, and ultimately, he's known to other members of the community as a lame person. He gets no respect. It's his loss.
Besides, nobody forces someone to up from a vulch field. Upping from a vulch field with hopes to somehow disperse the attacks, means you up despite the risk. Someone who got vulched, doesn't have a say in it. He knew the risks. Yes it's understandable that he might hate the fore-mentioned type of 'vultures', but still, has got no say.
My 2 cents.
