reason why you barelay see any dropships:
-militia forgegun
-swarms are now even more BS cause of the tracking pattern which screws them over now
(yes they fly around corners even more now on ground vehicles)
-missile launcher nerf rendered those turrets useless
-new physics when you touch the ground or any object with to much speed you end up as a burning pinata
-blueberrys still dont jump out of dropships
-no WP for pilots even when a mobile CRU is attached to it (spawning on a dropship)

now you see those are all big issues at the moment and the only counter against swarms is the afterburner module. If you dont have that you will get shot down extreme fast by the starter fit which has a swarm launcher on it.

The controls ARE difficult to learn, just look at how many guys immediately blow themselves up the first few times they call a DS in. We're just jaded due to flying the things for months

it's irrelevant really. For the player base, the DS is difficult to learn.

I get that you believe you've built up some sort of videogame gun shooting cred, and that belittling other players somehow helps to bolster that in some way. Frankly though, it just makes your opinion seem less relevant to the discussion. Clearly, many folks have difficulty learning to fly dropships, and how awesome you are at it, or how easy you or I may find it doesn't change that. Neither does it make the players who find it difficult "stupid". If you'd learn to lighten up on the hyperbole, and stop using every post you make as an exercise in passive aggressive ego stroking, people might take you more seriously.