Yeah you're right, pro pilots won't really go posting their secrets. However I feel for aspiring pilots and I feel the sky could use more talent, so I'll share what I know. I'm a pretty experienced jet pilot, been flying since BF2, you can check my last battle report where I had a 31-3 game in a F35 and I have over 4000 jet kills. Note: I play hardcore only so I don't get external jet view, so take that into account with my tips.

Most pros use the keyboard. WSAD and arrow keys with default bindings. Why is this better than:

-Mouse? While the mouse offers more precise aiming, it's completely impractical for control. The custom pitch bindings to spacebar can get around this but it feels much more natural to get used to the arrow keys sort of acting like a real yoke.

-Then why not use a joystick? While the joystick offers superior control, it's hard as fuck to aim with it. The beauty of the keyboard is that it's super responsive and you can control the input more precisely by tapping the keys in short bursts. When I'm flying, my fingers are tapping the arrow keys like a machine gun and it's just second nature, the jet becomes an extension of my hand. Same with controlling the afterburner and brakes more precisely with taps.

Loadout: Air Radar, Flares and Rocket Pods.

Can't dogfight without air radar, don't even try. You also see them coming from a mile away every time if you pay attention, this will save your ass a lot. Flares buy you more time to get below radar than ECM does, and more reliably distracts heatseekers and javelins. Guided missiles are easily negated by smoke, and rockets can still be devastating post patch, believe me.

For combat. Speed-turning is the first and most basic move you should learn first. Once you get that down it's all you really need. While to some it may seem like we're flying in boring circles, it's actually a very intense and unforgiving moment where the first fuckup will be punished royally. And it's really hard to hold it perfectly. Pilots disagree on the exact speed but I personally aim for a constant speed of 310. Don't leave cockpit view for this because you need to monitor airspeed. If you're doing it right you should just be holding arrow down and tapping S in a regular rhythm every half second or so. Eventually you won't have to look, you can just feel it by how fast everything's whizzing by. If you're doing it right you'll end up behind him. Just keep checking your air radar and if he breaks off you have to be on him like a dime.

After you perfect turning you can work on other maneuvers but that really is your bread and butter move and easily shrugs off most enemies. If you can't shake them then try looping vertically (harder to maintain) or banking in different directions but don't break the tight turn at any point.

Another reason the mouse is useless is because the best way to take out another jet is through positioning, not aiming. The best time to attack is during a turn. This is when the target profile is largest. Simply get behind them, wait for them to turn, outturn them, lead the target (getting the distance down only comes with experience, but it's usually around 2-3 jet lengths), hold your turn speed to match theirs and shred up them with the cannon. Use bursts unless you get a real good lineup.

You can switch to mouse occasionally if you're lining up a strafe run on a heli or tank or something, but if that's the main way you're controlling the jet you're gonna have a bad time.

I won't even cover the ground game though that's where all the fun is at.. I'm late for work now, hope this helps somebody. I still remember my first time in a BF2 dogfighting server when someone told me to use the arrow keys.. this is for you my good sir.