Very nice read. I myself have just started flying ROF again and have only played my career persona as dead is dead. I think the longest any of my characters has survived has been one week.
I play DiD too. I'm 4 weeks into my longest career now. I keep wondering when my time will come. If/when I die in this career, I'll continue it with a new pilot the following day so I can progress through the war.
If I were flying online, I wouldn't get through the first day most likely. There were/are a lot of good pilots there.