Very black and white in your world, guys, eh?
Suppose you do something a little less than your usual intelligent self. Ends up with a loss of job, which , due to a sudden and unexpected decline in airline business you suddenly find you need rather badly.
Go to a solicitor and he says, "Well, that's interesting, apparently your FO, who was part and party, (though maybe not quite as much so,) did not even get a reprimand, I think you've got yourself a case here, my son."
Of course you would all turn round and say, "Not on your life, I wouldn't sully my name with such a tactic." as you watch you life savings and what remains of your career dribble away.
Of course.
I think it perhaps a little simplistic to compare Mr Masson with Bud Holland. Holland had a record of endangering aircraft and flying them outside their envelopes. Are you saying that Mr Masson has such a record? Or is he just a good pilot who has issues with authority stupidly used? I don't know, I wasn't there, and I don't know him.
Long before 911 I believed that all public transport aircraft should have lockable cockpit doors, and that was while my children and I enjoyed several very fine cockpit visits. Was Mr Masson's infringement a real risk to safety or just an excuse to get rid of an inconvenient annoyance?
Would I rather fly with a Masson or a 3,000 hr newly promoted captain who sticks rigidly to the rules but maybe is untested in adversity? I don't really know.