I can personally guarantee you that Hopewell mission farming with me on an indie in Kansas is not a representative sample of [HF]'s time on the tracker, mostly because I've raided NY with [HF] on Fixit enough.
What you're seeing is players wanting to get in on the 50k a bunter pilot/45k a Rogue pilot bonanza going on in Kansas. Every mission offered off America is against a faction whose pilot sell prices have been buffed. Maybe make an Arbiter and get in on the action (smile)