http://ufoai.org/forum/index.php/topic,8920.0.html

Even if we don't know yet what to do with this counting, I think that, for fun/RPG sake, they would be useful.

Pilots would register their killing attacks (crashed or lost at sea UFOs).
Pilots would register their flight missions (takeoffs, or if doable, timed takeoffs or half tank fuel consumption, etc.).

This stats could be used by any future promotion system, the same as for the soldiers.
The "half tank fuel" tracking would be to discourage any easy cheating (fast takeoff/return to base cycle), including (sadly?) the "dance of the dead" trick to keep a big and dangerous UFO inside a Surface-Air array.

Now, on the other, utility stats:

It seems that both Targeting and Evading skills increase with the number of fights, and I expect that these stats are used in the fight computations.
Could we ensure that:
- Targeting increases with each attack (including missile launch), and increases more with killing blows.
- Evading increases with any sustained attack (including missile launch and all the attacks that miss), and increases more when actually hit (because it means that the evading skill was challenged at most, and that the pilot turned a potential killing blow into a "glancing" blow).
- Piloting COULD increase slightly with the number of flight hours, and more when engaged by an UFO or engaging an UFO.
(even if we don't know what to do with this skill yet).