I didn't really enjoy the Aerial Jousting... but didn't have much issue doing it either.
Made the mistake of having all toons use the birds at once; being in the lava did not hurt them.
Decided to park the other toons, once I saw they were sharing credit.

Basically, parked four toons at the quest guy.
And flew one toon about.
When the "vehicle" was injured, landed at the quest guy and exited, then got a new one.
Gradually did all the stages like that.

When the flaming boulders were falling from the roof.
Landed for a new mount much more frequently.

And when there were eggs to break.
Just landed on an island and ran the bird like a ground mount.
Was very easy to avoid the falling boulders that way.
And got my 40 eggs done in a three or four minutes, on the single island.

The "flap" was what made it hard.
Since it is essentially an uncontrolled hop, with momentum.
Except that you can freely change your freely, and re-hop at will... each time gaining a bit of altitude.