Lawyerboy
"..... serious breaches of SOPs and of the law" ? "..... someone who endangers the aircraft" ?
"Do they really run the risk of dismissal .... etc?"
No. They run the risk of getting on the wrong side of someone whose support/favourable comments they may need in due course. Or of being regarded as someone who reports colleagues for relatively minor breaches of SOPs - depending upon your point of view.
"the industry in such a state"?
Is it so very different from the position of young lawyers (also "well educated, professional and with more than a couple of brain cells to rub together") starting out on their careers?