Jaba,
I agree with you totally. There are many dodgy operators out there (I have worked for one) that have absolutly no problems with sending out someone who will fly the plane if you won't. In fact, in my first job, I was asked to be that second person. All I was saying is that I personally have not experienced that aspect of GA from this organisation.
Further, I am not denying that "commercial pressures" exist in the industry (they exist in most industries).
This quote from the coroners report into MZK says it all -
"4.46. However, this is a serious issue, and one that deserves close attention by CASA. It is no secret that young pilots are very keen, if not desperate, to progress in the industry, and in those circumstances they are highly susceptible to pressure, whether intended or otherwise, from their employer to maintain schedules and a high degree of performance. The temptation in those circumstances may well be to cut corners and compromise flight safety and that is a serious matter indeed."
This sort of pressure is not just limited to commercial operations either.
Quote - "Company and passenger expectation. The pilot may have been influenced by a perception (real or otherwise) that the passengers and the company expected the aircraft to continue..."
The ATSB is littered with reports of private flights ending badly, because the pilot felt pressure, real or otherwise to continue the flight into bad Wx/unsuitable Xwinds/whatever.
I don't want to trot out a bunch of tired cliches, but the addage that "you should learn all you can from the mistakes of others, as you won't be around to make them all yourself" is certainly true. I hope that everyone that reads this thread can learn something from it, and apply it to thier own flying. Human factors is really a complicated subject, as there are no hard and fast rules that can be applied across the board. 2 + 2 in human factors does not always equal 4!