It is very unlikely that any F-16/F-15 pilots are "trigger happy".
At least one of them has a wife who is a pilot with a US airline and others work for airlines as their main career or are possibly furloughed (thousands of US pilots were laid off after 9/11, and only a small fraction have been recalled-I know more than a few who worked full-time as military Instructor Pilots, or flew transports, fighters, various patrol planes etc). Their families sometimes travel on airlines, and they follow certain classified procedures. Might we assume that they have no desire to endanger civilians unnecessarily? One need not be a member of Mensa (the very high IQ society) to realize this.
Some misunderstandings may exist among many young civilian pilots, mostly among those whose knowledge of the military comes from gossip, entertainment television and Hollywood movies ('Rambo', 'Predator', 'Top Gun').