It's not just pilots . . .
A few years ago there was a train crash at Purley, south of London. It was caused by a driver passing a signal at danger, and resulted in the deaths of several passengers.
The signal in question was poorly sited and had a long history of being passed at danger. Management knew this, but had not taken any corrective action - such as moving it or installing a repeater signal. The driver relied only on his lookout and an ‘automatic warning system’ whose deficiencies were so well known that his own management had rejected it as being inadequate some 20 years previously. In spite of this, the driver was convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison.
Did he screw up? Yes.
Was he simply the last link in a long error chain? Absolutely.
Should he have carried the can for an inadequate signalling system? No.
If one contrasted our record of prosecuting blokes at the sharp end with the history of corporate manslaughter, one might conclude that English law is very effective at nailing individuals who make tragic mistakes, whereas their employers – who set the traps into which they fall – generally walk away scot-free. Unfair, unjust, but ‘twas ever so.