mgc
I do take the "innocent until proven guilty stance" because I think it's fair, especially when someone has been identified, but that wasn't the point I was making in this discussion.
I merely challenged Crossbars claim that the general public think if one pilot is caught every year they can be certain there are 'a whole lot more' who aren't caught. That may be public belief in Sweden where he lives, but I don't accept it's true of the general public in the UK.
I don't believe the overwhelming majority of the general public in the UK even think about the issue - except for a few days when the press/media try to whip up concern and make exaggerated and inaccurate comments about 'drunk' pilots. Public attention soon turns to some other hot topic.
What percentage of the thousands of people who board flights in the UK today do you think will give even a moment's thought to whether their pilots might be over the prescribed limit?
The UK public knows its aviation industry has a well-deserved fine reputation and a superb safety record, and I simply don't believe public opinion has changed because of a couple of widely-publicised cases.
Of course, that might eventually change if enough members of the public read some of the comments in these discussions - or the press quotes from posts which may have been made by people who aren't professional pilots and know little or nothing about the industry.
eg A journalist reading your post could accurately report that 'mgc' on 'the professional pilots website' referred to flight crews on benders in hotels, saying "It may not happen the way it used to, but to say it doesn't go on at all is plain wrong" - without knowing (or caring) if you're aircrew and speaking from personal observation or simply making a sweeping allegation based on nothing more than stories you've heard.