GENERAL PILOTING TIPS
First of all, all current aircraft provide a SUPPORT role. They're generally meant to either HELP OUT GROUND TROOPS by either transporting them to key locations or taking out key targets, or to hard counter specific enemy units like Main Battle Tanks or other aircraft. However, it's ridiculously easy to get shot down, and without proper ground support and good piloting skills, it's essentially impossible to enter a battle without dying within seconds.

Something important to note is that if you're in a Liberator or Galaxy, you should ALWAYS fly at the sky ceiling (1000 meters) while traveling between locations. This makes it harder for AA to spot you, and makes it impossible for Heavy Assaults to lock on to you with their rocket launchers. However, as of right now, you do NO damage to enemies outside of your draw distance. This means that if you can't see an enemy soldier because they're too far away, you can't hurt them, even if you know exactly where they are. This is very important to remember when you're in a Liberator.

An important key to remember is the vehicle management key, which is either N or Page Down by default. With this key, you can lock your vehicle, make it squad only, or deconstruct it for a resource refund. Locking your vehicle boots everyone except you out of it, which will kill them if you're high enough, not in a Galaxy, or don't have the Ejection Seat cert.

First off, your main threats.

The main thing to look out for are AA Turrets, which are the absolute deadliest thing for aircraft. They don't have ammo and can fire a VERY long burst without overheating, meaning if you stand in front of one, you're basically dead. However, AA Turrets are static and have a limited Field of View (FOV), so not dying to them is actually pretty easy. Before you even approach a base, you should examine it from the ground and memorize where all of its AA turrets are This shouldn't be too hard since there are only four or five different bases in the entire game. AA Turrets CANNOT aim too far below where they're located, so flying below them is a viable tactic; however, do remember that the bullets ARC DOWN, so if you're far enough, it won't matter how low you are. Also, most of them are located outside of a tower or building, so simply flying to the other side of the building can keep them from shooting you.

Your next biggest threat is the Skyguard. The Skyguard is an unlockable weapon for the Lightning and absolutely tears through aircraft like it's nothing. Because they're on tanks and not static, this generally makes Skyguard even more deadly than AA turrets. Skyguard bullets explode on impact, which can potentially blind you or your gunners if you're flying in first person, making it sometimes impossible to pinpoint their exact location. The fact that they look exactly like regular tanks from the sky can make it even harder to find them when they're not firing at you. If a Skyguard starts shooting at you, your best bet is to just immediately escape and repair, then fly away and tell your ground forces to try to take care of it immediately. The best way to dodge a Skyguard is to find any kind of terrain to put between you and it, whether it be a large building like a Bio Lab or Watch Tower, a mountain, or simply flying into a canyon. If you're in a Liberator and feel like you're good enough, you can POSSIBLY take out a Skyguard if it's alone, but you'll generally need a Dalton to deal with it. The best strategy is to fly up to the sky ceiling, then flying straight down at the Skyguard at a 90 degree angle. This makes it very hard for the Skyguard to aim at you, and if you use the Dalton in combination with your main gun, you can make short work of the Skyguard. However, if there are other AA measures around, this might just end up killing you.

Then there's enemy fighters. 90% of the time, they will NOT have anti-air rockets, since anti-ground rockets are so much more versatile and deal more damage, so your main threat will be their gatling gun, which can easily chip away at your Galaxy or severely hurt your Liberator. Generally, unless you're in a fighter yourself, a single fighter can get on your tail and keep on you until you die, especially considering the quality of your default AA weapons on your planes. Unless you have a good tail gunner, you're generally not going to escape. The best bet is to either try to make it towards your nearest base or armor column where a Skyguard or Turret is guaranteed, or try to juke them by braking and turning so they fly past you.

After that is the AA setup for the MAX. They're basically mini-Skyguards, but they do a lot less damage and have a bit less accuracy, meaning they won't tear through you unless they're grouped up. Simply fly away, put something between you and it, or kill it quickly from a distance.

Lastly, the Heavy Assault class has access to an anti-air rocket launcher which can lock on to aircraft. It takes a few seconds to lock and the projectile moves rather slowly and drops off after a certain distance, so it's not too big of a deal, especially since you can generally outfly it with the afterburner. It also doesn't do too much damage, taking two or three to kill a fighter with and even more for the other planes.

Now, a general rundown of each plane.

>>>Fighter
Get the radar dish and kind of fly around battles to give allies minimap vision.

>>>Liberator
The Liberator is a common pool SUPPORT aircraft that's generally used to deal with ground targets and is effective against infantry and tanks alike. Notice the word "support" in capital letters; a Liberator's low acceleration and speed makes it VERY vulnerable to AA fire, meaning flying by yourself into an enemy base means you're guaranteed to die to an AA Turret or Skyguard. To use a Liberator effectively, teamwork and coordination with ground forces is NECESSARY. However, once a Liberator gets into action, it's extremely deadly and is more than capable of killing infantry and vehicles in a single shot. A good platoon or outfit will generally want to run a Liberator or two with their ground forces to completely dominate the battlefield once the AA has been dealt with.

Generally, you'll want to find out if any static AA Turrets are still up, and, if they are, either take them out from a distance with your main gun and gunner, or find a way to fly around them so they can't shoot at you. Specific places such as The Pit on Esamir or the Vanu Archives on Indar don't even have static turrets, so it's relatively easy to just fly up to them and support the ground. Once you're near a facility, your MAIN PRIORITY is to take down enemy vehicles, especially Sunderers. You have two choices when doing this; either fly around and let your gunners take care of it, or fly directly towards the vehicle and fire your main gun. Your gunner should still be able to fire at it from this angle, so the damage will pile up very quickly, but it's riskier since your profile is static in your opponent's frame of reference, making it easy for them to shoot back. Once you finish off any vehicles, you have two choices; either start firing at vehicle terminals so they can't spawn any tanks, or fire at any capture points or spawn points with the main gun. The splash damage on it is generally enough to kill any infantry in the area. Remember, if you can't see an enemy because they're too far away, you can't hurt them, even if you know exactly where they are. If you're attacking a base, you're generally forced to fly below 500 meters (take elevation into account) so your gunner can actually do something.

As for the class you should be while piloting a Liberator, you should essentially always either pick Engineer or Light Assault. Engineers let you repair your own Liberator, obviously, and Light Assaults have a jetpack which lets you mitigate fall damage when you leave your Liberator mid-flight if you don't have the Ejection Seat cert. Heavy Assault is also a choice, since the anti-air rocket gives you an answer to any Fighters that are following you; just land and have your gunner repair your ship while you lock on and deal with the Fighter.

Something to note about the weapons in the Liberator (and all weapons) is that they don't gain momentum for some reason. That means that the bullet will fly and land at wherever your cursor is pointing at when you click M1. It doesn't matter if you're flying at full speed or hovering, the bullets always do this.

As for the Liberator Weapons:
>Main Gun
-AP30 Shredder
Default main gun for the Liberator. For some reason, it's a gatling gun instead of a bomb launcher. This weapon is complete shit. It has zero accuracy, so you need to basically fly close enough to let enemy infantry knife you to even hit with it. It also takes quite a bit of time to actually kill an infantry unit, and while it DOES damage tanks, it's not viable to even try unless they're already on fire. This, coupled with the fact that it has basically no ammo and the smallest clip size means that the Liberator is useless until you spend at least 96 certs on another weapon.

While you shouldn't be wasting any certs on this thing, if you're some kind of masochist who hates your gunner and insists on using it, make sure you invest in Magazine Size immediately. The 40-bullet default just isn't enough, and your gunner will find himself reloading constantly. A good scope also wouldn't hurt thanks to the shit accuracy.

-L105 Zepher
This is the first upgrade to the main gun and is necessary to even use the Liberator. The Zepher is mainly an anti-infantry weapon and can kill soldiers pretty quickly. It has six shots per clip and can fire them rather quickly, so it's not hard to deal with infantry. It CAN damage tanks, but it takes a bit of effort to do so, so it's really not worth suiciding over it. Fire it at Sunderers to kill enemy troops as they spawn.

As for certs, do reload speed over magazine size. The gun has enough ammo to do what it needs to do, and six shots is more than enough to kill anything that moves. Your gunner will also love the thrill of reloading in the middle of battle. Scopes aren't necessary since the splash is big enough, but it wouldn't hurt.

-C150 Dalton
THIS is the main gun of the Liberator. It's fucking ridiculous. You can one-shot infantry and maxes with this thing, and you absolutely tear through tanks. A Liberator with a Dalton is arguably the single strongest vehicle in the game (until a Skyguard shows up). Get it ASAP, it's the main reason why Liberators are even remotely viable.

You can't even get Magazine Size upgrades since it only has one shot and SOE wants to keep it that way, so max out Reload Speed immediately so you can kill tanks as quickly as possible. Again, scope not needed, but get it if you have spare certs.

>Front Gun
-L30R Vektor
Default pilot weapon. Unlike every other machine gun in the game, these are meant to damage vehicles, and while the Vektor isn't that good at it, it does decent damage and can kill tanks in a clip or two depending on their initial health. It has ridiculously perfect accuracy, so aiming shouldn't be a problem, but the projectile moves rather slowly. You shouldn't be using this THAT often, but when you do, it's meant to support your main gunner. Upgrading it isn't that necessary, but might be useful depending on how you fly. Almost useless against infantry because it's a bit hard to aim, regardless of how perfectly straight the bullets fly.

Magazine size is probably the better option, since you generally won't have enough time to reload and fire again. Zoom is pretty important, though, since it can help you scope out an enemy base in the distance for Skyguards and AA Turrets that might still be up.

-CAS30 Tank Buster
Fucking ridiculous weapon. It has perfect accuracy and just poops on tanks if you can hit them with a full clip. However, since it's hard to use the pilot gun on a Liberator and since your main gun is more important, try for the Dalton first. If you do get this, though, you might not even need a gunner to kill tanks. Again, pretty useless against infantry since lining up the shot is hard.

Max out zoom first. You don't really need reload speed since, again, you'll probably be moving too quickly to get a chance to finish reloading anyways. Ammo wouldn't be bad, either. SOE doesn't let you get a clip size increase because this gun is too strong.

>Tail Gun
Both the Galaxy and the Liberator have the same tail guns.
-M20 Basilisk
Default tail gun. Pretty shitty, has a gigantic cone of fire which makes its sniper-level range pointless. Seriously, you could kill people from 500 meters away with this gun if it actually shot in a straight line. However, it's (arguably) the best aircraft defense since the Walker takes skill to use.

If you're going to cert this (a lot of vehicles use the Basilisk, so it might not be a bad idea), then max out Magazine Size instead of Reload Speed. Having 75 bullets per clip is very preferable to having to keep reloading, especially since holding M1 and praying is the most effective way to use the Basilisk.

-M60 Bulldog
This is an anti-ground tailgun for the Liberator. It fires grenades instead of bullets, so it's a lot more effective at taking down infantry and enemy tanks than the Basilisk or Walker, but...do you really want that? It's really a personal choice; the Bulldog can help your main gunner take out tanks if there's a full column firing at you, but it completely removes your AA defense options and the position of the tail gun makes it awkward to actually use, not to mention the fact that you ALREADY have a main gunner to deal with ground targets. Your main gunner generally fires at enemies either in front of you, below you, or to your side, so the Bulldog rarely actually gets any use. Also, it has a short-range fire arc which makes it pretty hard to use.

If you're going this route, max out reload speed. The Bulldog has ten shots per clip and has a very slow rate of fire, so you don't really need the extra five shots if it means reloading quickly. Scope isn't necessary since it has an effective range of like fifty meters max.

-A30 Walker
The Walker does ridiculous amounts of damage to everything. It rips through infantry and aircraft and can hurt tanks pretty badly. However, while the bullets travel far, they ARC FOR SOME REASON. Seriously, you need to not only lead your shots, but you also need to aim a good fifty meters above your targets because your bullets curve down immediately upon leaving the barrel. Because of this, the gun takes a considerable amount of skill to use, meaning the Basilisk MIGHT be the better AA tailgun choice if your gunners are going to be random people.

Scopes aren't necessary. Since you're aiming above and in front of your enemies, that means that scoping in might actually make you lose sight of them, which is bad. Magazine Size is preferable, since it brings your bullets per clip up to 112, which is a pretty big number for a machine gun.

General Certs:
-Decoy Flares
Out of all the main AA weapons, only the Heavy Assault's rocket launcher and the Fighter's Air-to-Air missiles lock on to you, and Fighters generally use the Air-to-Ground rockets or don't have missiles at all. Neither of these are main threats to you. Flak is a main threat to you. The Decoy Flares are very situational and honestly shouldn't be necessary unless you keep getting hit by missiles. A different cert is arguably better.

-Ejection System
When you're piloting a Liberator, you're generally either an Engineer so you can repair yourself or a Light Assault so you can safely exit the aircraft and use your jetpack to land safely. Ejection Seat lets you get the best of both worlds, so you can be an Engineer and bail out when you need to. However, if you're your squad's dedicated pilot, dying withe the Liberator might be a better choice so you can spawn at a landing pad and get another one. Situational.

-NS LF-100 Afterburner
Give you a speed boost so you can escape. Arguably the best cert for this slot, since it can easily save you if you're caught off-guard by a Skyguard or freshly-repaired AA Turret. You generally want this unless you NEED the Ejection Seat or Flares.

-Fire Suppression System
It's an ability you can activate when your Liberator is low in health to put out the fire and heal yourself to green. It's honestly not worth it, since if you ever have that little health, you're either seconds away from dying or safe enough to land and repair yourself, and the amount it heals you for will not save you. Do not get.

-Performance
For performance, you'll want anything outside of air brake. Turn Speed and Top Speed both help you get away from surprise Skyguards, the former letting you turn away more efficiently while Top Speed lets you get out of their range or behind cover ASAP, although Top Speed doesn't mean much when the Liberator has a very low acceleration. Vertical Thrust lets you land and take off quickly so you can repair as efficiently as possible or reach the sky ceiling as quickly as possible. Personal choice.

>>>Galaxy
Take off with one passenger, then lock your plane over the emptiest part of the desert.