Gifxt300

I am seriously struggling with my Independence. Since the patch it seems like any ship I come across which is equal or higher tier than me just seems to completely obliterate my aircraft. I feel like I have to wait and play recon until I get lucky and someone separates themselves. Until then, I feel like a dead weight on the team and I would be better off in a battleship or something. It is just me being an idiot or did this AA buff really hurt CV game play?