Do you play airborne or space-borne combat games?  Do you have trouble staying out of your enemy's firing zones?  Do you get your wings shot off, in situations you should be able to handle?  We, here at Tanks Game, understand. 

Every day, thousands of gamers just like you get their butts blasted off in dog-fighting games because they don't understand the basics of evasion.  Why, it happened to me just today.  Try as I might, I just couldn't move that gigantic Galaxy Class starship the right way, and the cost of my failure was hundreds of virtual lives.

If only I'd been thinking about these basic tips...

I must apologize for the horrible quality of these illustrations.  I am not an artist.

Stay out of the box.
When you're evading, enemy teams will try to corral you, firing so that you're between them and keeping the pressure on you so that you can't pick up speed or distance.  By knowing where they are and how they're angling, you can decide which hits to allow them to land vs. when you really must turn.  If they're boxing you in, keep the speed on even if it means getting hit.  If they've got you boxed in, you need to fly tricky, sacrificing speed for maneuverability.

Keep an eye on every nearby hostile.
Radars lie.  Know where all hostiles are, unless they're moving out of combat range.  Don't pay all your attention to your own target.  Always think about who's targeting you.  Most games let you quickly pan through nearby targets: a “Nearest Hostile” button, a “My Attacker” button, and in some games the Next/Previous Target buttons will sort by distance.  Check each hostile's distance and orientation every several seconds.  (By orientation, I mean its angle relative to your own craft.)  If a hostile's nose is starting to line up with your craft, prepare to be fired at.  Keeping alert means taking less damage.

Getting “away” doesn't always mean away from their nose.
Getting away from hostiles doesn't have to mean you're in front of them and everyone's moving the same direction.  Most craft have their weapons facing front, and their engines facing rear.  Getting yourself behind one or more enemies, especially if they're moving forward, is a great way to get out of a box.  If you're on an attack run in a jousting pattern, you can easily fake like you're flying into a box, then cut behind an enemy who's moving at decent speed at the last second.  Observe what each pilot is predicting, and thwart it.

Joust, don't box.
In a messy fight where you're outnumbered and outgunned, you don't ever want to “hang in there and finish them off” unless you are in a very superior situation.  Hanging in close to land continuous hits on the same enemy who's trying to shake you reduces your speed and keeps your craft in one small area.  That means everyone but your target is starting to see you as a fish in a barrel.  They're putting themselves somewhere that lets them get in as many hits as possible before you realize you've made a mistake, PLUS letting them chase you easily once you finally start moving away.  Try to recognize when and if your thirst for blood has left you at low speed, dogfighting in a small zone.  When that happens, increase speed first, then use targeting buttons to find the cleanest way out of that zone immediately.

Use momentum in your favor.
Momentum is the reason why a heavy thing that's moving fast, can't slow down fast.  Aircraft and starships are heavy things, and when they're moving and turning, their speed and angle works against them if they suddenly want to stop or change direction.  This also applies to target-seeking weapons such as heat-seeking missiles.  Use momentum to your advantage by constantly forcing enemies to turn hard in one direction, and just when they're about to acquire you, turn as sharply as you can.  The finesse here is that moving fast will often make it harder to turn fast, so you need to decelerate and “goose” the throttle repeatedly as you turn in order to both turn and move quickly enough.  This trick can deny a sharpshooter his shot, and keep auto-locking weapons from scoring a hit.

Conserve your ammo.
Don't fire in a panic every time you “might have a shot.”  For energy weapons that get weaker at a distance, why fire at maximum range, unless it's doing something useful?  Remember, these are evasive maneuvers.  You should be thinking of every chance to dodge, not every chance to fire.  Firing on the run might deter pursuit at the best of times.  Few games let you kick butt while fleeing in terror

Alright flyboys and girls, stay alive up there!