If the attackers cannot suppress the defenders well enough to get their troops to the maproom without taking down the fighter hangars, then they do not deserve the take IMO.
If you had visited lately you would know that it is often empty, and usually completely dead at those times of day when it is also hard to find a fight in the MA.
Understand what you are saying, however, if you get in and cap the base, and guys are dropping down to keep a path clean, then either a horde is developing or the attackers loose guys and have to fly all the way back creating the daisy chain grinder. While I agree that you should be good enough to capture the base, however, often times when an attack begins, we have dropped a town and had cap before. But the resupply effort makes it near impossible if defended correctly as the town can be up in minutes after being dropped. Sometimes, the ONLY way to stop the defenders is to drop the base, clear the skies, then put the vulch on the resupply effort.
It really seriously depends on who is there, who is defending, what time of day, etc...
You are right, my last few visits to the DA were ridiculous. Took off only to get vulched or to meet in the middle with a handful of guys in the atmosphere. You get into a few good fights and the cannon plane gods are on you when you are wrapped up. Not really that fun in there to me any longer. Every now and then it can still be okay. The WW1 arena is fun if you find anyone in there. Fairly even fights.
Again. All good points but sometimes, if you are outnumbered and any given side has crazy response to defend a base, even if you do drop the base, you still can't take it. It is usually based on the determination of the side attacking or defending.