No... ...this list is not a jab ant ANYONE!!! These are some of the things that have gotten me killed. As you can tell, I have no skill (well, not much skill).
1. Knowing how to HO without dying.
2. Knowing how to pick.
3. Knowing how to turn fight.
4. Knowing how to convince (on channel 200) the guy you are fighting they are doing it wrong and get them to come back and fight the wrong fight in the plane they are in.
5. Knowing how a map works (which bases to take and in what order).
6. Knowing the plane you are in and the plane you are up against.
7. Knowing how to score kills against superior numbers and somehow land them there kills.
8. Knowing how to kill GVs for air or land (or from the 8 inch guns near a beach).
9. Knowing the concept of the game (play your way and have fun doing it).
10. Knowing how to bomb manually (Most FSOs and AvA).
11. Knowing how to shut down any size airfield, white flag the town, and get troops out... ...all in one pass.
12. Knowing how to fight a 5 to 10 minute white knuckle, sweaty dog fight, and win or lose, salute your opponent regardless of the outcome, then review the film (win or lose) to see how you can improve.
There are many perceptions of skill in this game. I hope I identified some of them.
I don't want to hihack the thread, but as an example... It is always funny to me to see someone that got killed by someone elses HO, call out the HO person as a no skill person, even if that HO person is still flying and the complainer is in the tower. HOing is part of the game (unfortunately), it will never go away. I try to never HO on the first 3 merges unless I am WAY outnumbered. I sometimes line up like I am going to HO so I can see how to avoid getting hit from it. The simple fact is, if you can HO someone and live through it without damaging your plane, that is skill. If you HO ram, then that (in my mind) is no skill. But, if I get HO rammed while defending, I am assuming I am close to troops and that was a last ditch effort to keep me from getting close to their troops. In that scenario, it would make sense.
Anyways, that is my 2 cents.