Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-180.183.8.182-20150722131359/@comment-26107364-20150723065125

basically, yes, the fairies are the crew.

For example, the Egusa and Tomonaga squadrons are likely each led by a fairy carrying those pilots' souls. That you can get multiple Egusa/Tomonaga (by raising another dragon sister) in the older model plane might be thought to be a time paradox from recalling the soul from different points in that pilot's carreer. The planes themselves are not much different from a regular version of that plane. (of course, this is just my personal opinion, piecing lore together)