At high tiers the 2.0 actually starts demanding a shred of flying skill, yes.
First of all, don't attack GAA from behind, because they present the smallest cross-section and can bounce a lot of shells. Yes, targets have armor and bounce shells if you hit at a high angle, but the game is awful at actually telling you that in 2.0 (all those cool hit sounds from 1.X went bye bye.) You need to attack from above to hit their wings, or in case of IL-20, which also has a huge side, you can attack from the flank. You should do that with all kinds of planes, but with GAA, it's actually mandatory because of their HP pool and painful rear guns.
Secondly, don't hit the brakes to get the target in your sights, because you need to keep moving to minimize damage from tail guns or stay out of its cone of fire altogether. In other words, you will need to actually master some combat maneuvers, such as barrel rolls and yo-yos. The most basic approach is to use a series of vertical dives to keep hitting the GAA from above. Of course, a unica GAA player will be anything but passive and will try to keep you in the rear gunner view or even counter-attack, while tier 9 and 10 German GAA can also hit that gas pedal and leave you behind.
At high tiers, GAA stop being damage pinatas and demand consideration in how to deal with them, both tactically and strategically. So, thirdly, you need to expect where they will pop up (say, at a nearby plant, which is their nr. 1 priority) and what that demands of you and your team.
EDIT: and of course, you'd better master them rokkits. IL-20, meet Tiny Tim. 
Edited by omglaserspewpew, 06 December 2017 - 06:26 PM.