and it is a shame that you can't loot the vertibird when it is crashed....

i think one issue is that there is a power creep in enemies when you level but probably not in birds.... i think they should be way harder cause they crash around me ALL the time - and it just looks like bos has thousands of them

Agreed. It's the reason I use mods to improve their durability. Like: http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/2857/? and/or http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/7574/?

What bothers me most though is the incompetence of their pilots. They just love flying into things.

I agree, they should be able to withstand more punishment, not go down to raider gunfire.

Yes, only with the 2nd highest level of the Durable Vertibirds mod are they any good for fire support. The Knights they transport and support are my best source of Power Armor parts.

Vertibirds are the fallout universes answer to helicopters. It is eminently possible to bring one down with small arms fire. Given the design of the vertibirds (basically, just small V-22 Osprey's) taking out one engine is a sure way to put them on the ground. Now, I can't help that the pilots are idiots, and seem to love to hang around at low level where anyone with a pipe pistol can shoot them down......

On the other hand, while playing yesterday, I came upon a vertibird that was being attacked by supermutants, and raiders...... all it could seem to do was spin in circles at low altitude, and belch smoke...... I got tired of the thing being there, making all that racket, so, proceeded to start pumping lead from the .50 cal sniper rifle into BOTH engines...... The vertibird had zero health left, both engines were just masses of flames, but, the thing absolutely refused to crash. I left the area, and eventually it got real quiet, and I got some experience points.....

I think it would be great if we could steal a vertibird and use it to travel between settlements. Your companion could be the gunner it would want to be tougher than now though.