Latvia calling, good example, but wrong facts :
I was partially involved in the ICAO investigation after the KAL shootdown at Sakhalin and the pilot was not " trigger happy " nor stupid . In every Modern State, and even more in the Soviet Union at the time , orders to shoot down come from someone very senior in the ground. It is not the fighter pilot prerogative... In that perticular case the KAL747 was mistaken for a RC135 ( which was in the area as well at the time ) and the first interception failed when the 747 overflew Kamchatka, but more military ( read US) tragets were in the Okhotsk sea at the time, and when a target overflew Sakhalin and headed for a large naval base , it was intercepted a second time, the Soviet fighter was low of fuel ( it is not easy to intercept an aircrfat doing bearly 500 Kts ) came from below, saw the western shape of a Boeing ( a 707 and 747 seen from below are looking very similar , especially at night, ) passed that on, was ordered to fire tracers first , made calls on his guard frequency but was only equiped in UHF , but the 747 continued its course and was about to leave soviet airspace again , so he was ordered to shoot with missiles at the target.
The order came from a rather junior officer ( a colonel if my memory is correct, as the regionīs general normally authorised to give the order to shoot was not reachable . They both were court martialled and served jail sentences later I believe. .
If the Soviet pilot had done a proper interception as in ICAO textbook, or having had the chance to practice in real time and see a 747 from close by, afew hundred people will probably still be alive today.
For those interested the full report is available from ICAO ( one of the few investigations done by them )
Let military pilots train on interceptions. The more they train the best chances we will have that they never shoot at the wrong aircraft.