In a recent Readers Digest Survey, readers were asked to rank a list of professions from most to least trusted. At the top were Firies, next Ambo's, and third were PILOTS. The list contained 25 or 30 different occupations, and lawyers were near the bottom, as were car and real estate salesmen. Fairly predictable.
In another way of posing longjohn's question, how long will it be before we as professional aviators drop down that list.
Personally, I am proud to be a trusted professional. But when guys like Ydraw come along, a yobbo with no real idea of aviation, who simply wants to "mix it up", seemingly just for the sake of it, well what chance do we really have.
And unfortunately, there are many yobbo's out there. Pick up the paper any given day and read about the "expert" accounts from some goon who watched an aeroplane come to an unfortunate end.
I don't give us much longer, because Mr and Mrs Average Yobbo don't really understand what it is that we do, but they have convinced themselves that they DO. That can only bring us down.
Combine that with our own willingness to undercut one another, jeez we really don't have long at all.
I'd be interested to hear from J* pilots on this. How does it feel to have it done to you, guys?