Don’t take it personally. It’s just a discussion amongst friends.
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Of course. But it is a subject close to my heart. I feel an obligation to protect my profession from the rising tide of threats against it. Buried within this thread are a few of the worst ideas that I once fought as a union representative and continue to fight as a line pilot. These ideas fly over the barricades wrapped with the illusion of “safety” and filled with the shrapnel of unintended consequences. There are many who work in this industry who see pilots as overpaid button-pushers. Incidents such as this one give these people that endorphin rush which comes with bias confirmation. They revel in the perceived incompetence of an overrated profession. And because they work along side us–they think they know more than the average Joe what it is that we do. Also an illusion.
My union took a lead in protecting the Legacy crew while they were sequestered in Brazil and for months of legal wrangling after. Their families back home were justifiably wrecked with fear. All of us were worried, for them and for us. So yes it is always fun to analyze from the safety of a keyboard the actions of a crew who seem to have fallen down a hole of compounding errors. I’ve been doing it for far too long; and will again. But issues that directly affect the profession are just too close to my heart. Too close to enforcement scenarios which genuinely keep me awake at night. This is not, “What will replace the A-10?”. At the end of the day, I don’t REALLY care–I’m just a gamer. They can replace it with my mother’s CRV for all I truly care, or know. But I do have an opinion. And it is fun to argue with friends who are no less ingnorant than me about it.
THIS is very different. And because we ARE all friends of sorts, it sparks a reaction that is probably too deep for me to stay in the discussion. Back to being the middle-aged gamer and poor VR addict, Smokin’ Hole…
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Totally with you there. I’m heading our union flight safety committee, and one of our main tasks at the moment is designing and updating the emergency response plan. The biggest hurdle seems to be legal aid for crew…
The prosecution side, in some countries, seem to demand that pilots are able to fully comprehend every possible emergency scenario, and act with total confidence and precision during life threatening situations. Anything less may be considered criminal neglect.
Which is, as most people would agree, demanding a lot!
But I digress. This is perhaps not the venue for those discussions 
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No worries man, you have every right to feel strongly about this!
Perhaps you are right on that one. On the other hand, the myriad of viewpoints and experiences of aviation related professions that compound here is quite interesting.
Frankly, I am already on the line in case of a crash with everything that I do, I suppose it’s a normalized situation for me since you are made aware of it from day 1 in training. Hence why I have a bit of a different POV on the discussion.
It’s been an interesting discussion though. I haven’t really felt that its been heated, just a nice discussion 
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I don’t have enough real time to talk about my opinions one way or the other. In a perfect world, all countries would provide unbiased investigations that weren’t protective of their national pride, national products, or their governmental or private sector interests. The world isn’t like that though…and some countries are less interested in getting to the bottom of what happened, and more interested in putting the best spin on it. It would never surprise me that mechanics, pilots, or ATC might get railroaded under the right circumstances.
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