Stephen,
The pilot did not intentionally crash the aircraft. He made a decision based on his training, practice and experience as you say. The company, and industry, is partially responsible for a pilot's training, which is where we need to concentrate.
My concern is not that the pilot gets some form of penalty. My concern is that so many here, and in the media, seem to have some perverted desire to just punish punish punish, while not understanding that what they are doing can damage the safety systems that exist. You and many others have said that he should, and I quote "pay the price". It makes us feel warm and fuzzy to know someone has been punished, while the industry is no safer, and more people can be killed in similar circumstances.
It is so important we can find out the causes behind this mentality of continue in what were marginal circumstances.
To go back to the trucking analogy - For a long time if a truck driver fell asleep at the wheel they were charged and imprisoned, and nothing else happened. That wasn't solving the problem, which is why, now, the regulator is putting pressure on the industry as a whole to remove the unrealistic timeframes the drivers are given.
Imprisoning drivers didn't make the industry safer, nor prevent further crashes. Regulator pressure to outlaw unsafe rostering practices, and harsh penalties for companies that created and encouraged unsafe driving patterns has helped.
We have lead the way in this field in aviation, and we need to ensure that it continues into some of the less wealthy aviation areas.
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