What I find irritating is the contrasting treatment of the Virgin Captain and JM in the press.
One vilified and presumed guilty, the other receiving plaudits as a pioneering expert aviator.
I have no problem with JM taking a trip to the south pole if that's her thing, but it's the disproportionate attention and assumption of expertise in the media that is somewhat nauseating.
Professional pilots fly in hostile environments every hour of every day all over the globe, but are rarely perceived as heros. They just get on with the job.
If this crash had happened to a passenger carrying helicopter with a professional pilot, you can bet the farm the press would have been all over it like a rash, looking for any angle from which to point an accusatory, sensationalist finger at the pilot.
