Too often the planes get damaged to a point it’s impossible to fly them by a random bullet fired by AI because they have a tendency to snap to whatever is close to them, or be hit by a random SMG round that turns your tail yellow and suddenly you go into a complete flat spin and die.
Having an SMG squad is more effective AA at this point than actual AA is. Why build an AA when you can spray in the general direction of the plane, get one hit and you cripple the entire plane.
The only thing that should take down planes are either other planes, or AA, not random flicks from AI or players spraying SMG rounds, getting one bullet in turning any component yellow and suddenly the plane is no longer usable.
And on a separate note, the AI sixth sense for when you are aiming at them needs to be toned down. They will sit in one place for 5-10 seconds, the instant you aim at them, they start moving and shooting back, usually in the form of an instant-snap with perfect precision. But if you don’t aim at them, they ignore you, seriously what the hell?