why don't we allow the president to fly a Rustler?
Because of Yomama and raging no-skill shits that can not deal with it.
/topic
It sounds egotistical (which is why I've never said it), but I have been cited as a reason not to allow it, particularly in Tenshi's server, which is complete bullshit.
I find it really hard to understand why there should be restrictions on flying a Rustler as president. The thing is, the majority of PTP players can drive really fast and most of them(hell, even I know some stunts) can do some stunts. For some reason flying a Rustler(which not a lot of people are that good at) should be limited while the gamemode suffers more from NRG whores(excuse me for the word) than it will ever suffer from Rustler presidents.
As an NRG whore, I take great offense. Well said.
There are some active players who will be hard to shoot down: MegaPilot, YoMama, Eagle, Barto, Panal. Okay, 5 players. Now, make a list of every player who is hard to kill when he has a NRG: 85% of the server.
You forget to mention that the best pilots will be easy to shoot down if around three or more terrorists of reasonable skill are following them, whereas an average NRG president might require many more people of higher skill, and even then, he can just keep jacking bikes. On top of that, the NRG president can gather people on top of his bike at no performance penalty to stop anyone from getting near him on the ground, and his security can easily give him new bikes to use. If the terrorists know what they're doing and you get shot down from a plane as President, you're pretty much alone, and probably royally screwed.
I have said this before, but I don't even think there should be any penalties for flying (I only suggest less draconian ones in hope that being more forgiving about flying will lead to certain people getting better at it to the point where they realize that they can actually have fun and do damage by flying). Why? The huge risk you take by flying a plane (particularly if you're the pilot) is already a penalty. I don't even trust myself not to crash into anything over a period of 15 minutes. I currently have the most survivals as president out of the entire server. A small fraction of those survivals involved flying, and out of that fraction, few involved flying for any long period of time. Practically none involved flying when skilled people were in the air.
However, the overwhelming majority of survivals involved mainly driving, which I view as a much lower-risk option, particularly when I have a mental library of stunts I can do to shake most of the people who follow me. When you fly, there isn't really anywhere to hide, and the only way to shake people off is to get behind them, which is nearly impossible to do without being shot down with two or three competent pilots. Add on people surfing on planes, and suddenly your long-term survival prospects look pretty bad. I can't think of a game where the President lasted an entire round in an aircraft (hell, more than half the round) when I've been a terrorist.
TL; DR:
To all the people who are still going to whine about this: if you're complaining about lacking the skills to shoot someone down, that's your problem, and more of a reason why your opinion shouldn't be taken seriously than a reason why the President shouldn't fly. Everybody started playing this game as a newbie. Show a little humility and try to learn, instead of denying other people fun because you've ignored a huge aspect of the game (that whole "3rd dimension" thing) for your playing career. If you're uncomfortable flying and want to learn tricks and improve your skills by watching me, I made my flying guide for a reason. If you have questions or want me to make a video on something, ask me or someone else who knows what they're doing- I think we all appreciate having more skilled opponents in the air.
TL; DR. TL; DR:
When most (though I say most, I can't think of an exception) of the people who actually enjoy flying planes and are skilled at it are telling you that this is not going to be a big deal, that it will probably make the game more fun, and that it won't in fact make the President invulnerable but instead do the opposite, you might want to reconsider your opinion.