Though this article is old it's still largely relevant https://blog.worldofwarplanes.com/mechanics/new-pilot-skills/
So, *ahem* pilot skills have a wide range of uses and are used to help tailor your aircraft a bit more towards your playstyle (or to cover up weaknesses/increase strengths) and there's a lot of different reasons to take different skills.
Fire Resistance, solid 1-point skill if you want to ignore taking an extinguisher consumable while using heavier aircraft that can't maneuver very well. Just in general a decent survival skill.
Eagle-Eyed, not a very useful skill with how 2.0 works, but it can be useful on HF's if you're hunting people or are entering a cloudy section of map.
Battle-Tested, don't take this just for pilot-crit resistance, it's not going to save your pilot, they will still get knocked out, a lot, this is mostly for aggressive turnfighter players who don't want to take the control system consumable, as being able to maneuver a bit despite critted controls can enough to keep you in the fight.
Engine Guru I, mostly only obtained for Engine Guru II, would not recommend taking this alone unless you're really desperate for more acceleration.
Engine Guru II, now this is what you want, with Guru I the 5% increase in engine power means you'll be quicker than before, and the 2% speed increase matters a considerable amount in high-tier aircraft. This is usually used on speed builds or heavy fighters/heavy fighter interceptors to make getaways faster and the ability to run away from them harder.
Marksman I, decreases the spread of your guns, nice little boost to make your shots more concentrated.
Marksman II, decreases the spread further and increases your guns autoaim against planes, so not only are your shots more concentrated, you're more likely to land hits as well, using this in tandem with the right equipment can make some guns fire magnetic rounds that require a LOT of effort to get away from.
Demolition Expert, use this if you ever plan on focusing ground targets, it's largely useless if you don't focus on killing ground targets, so 99.5% of the time you'll only see it used on bombers and ground attack aircraft.
Aerobatics Expert, does not decrease your turn time, but makes all of your control surfaces react a bit quicker, meaning when you try to turn you'll be faster to enter it.
Aerodynamics Expert, only useful if you have a speed/maneuverability build on equipment, don't worry about this until later on, you'll only really see use out of it on the high-grade equipment anyways.
Protection Expert, only useful if you have an armor/tank build on equipment, again, don't worry about this until later.
Expert Rocketeer, DO NOT USE ON ANY AIRCRAFT. Unless you are flying BV's, the F-94D, the Me 262, or the Me 262 HG II, otherwise, an almost completely useless skill unless you are a god of rocketry.
These are only the general skills, but the special skills you don't really need to use until you want to get ultra-specialized in how you build your aircraft. Though fire-fighting is a useful skill for fragile turnfighters to quickly extinguish any fire they get while maneuvering.
Edited by Reitousair, 29 August 2018 - 06:55 PM.