ive played pr since 0.5 and ive done alot of (ingame) flying since. i also found out that (i think) the best way to cruise/stand-by a jet until you got a laser or target is to fly in the clouds (just high enough so you can barely see vehicles on the ground if you fly above them. and i always fly sideways using this technic and use 9 or 0 (sorry cant remember wich buttum it was) to keep looking to the right or left without holding ctlr and look with mouse. i then make big cirles and scan the ground to provide intel.
i always fly like this if i know that there arent any jets up (cause if there up il go jet hunting (if i have a fighter jet
)) and i dont have a target. this way the enemy on the ground cant hear and can barely see you and they can only see you if they look straight up.also like this you can very easily spot choppers and take them out
this technique is so effective that i ones had a bunch of admins thinking that i was cheating/hacking
im sorry if i forgot any parts of my technique but ive just reinstalled pr and bf2 2 days ago after a break of 1.5 years
and btw, im a hardcore keyboard pilot
i dont use a joystick (i do have one) or my mouse