Hmm - I can see that pilots would feel less bothered about the thought of being judged "by their peers" in open court than by the lay public.
The trial by jury system, although it has a great heritage, is now so distorted by the legal and media process that it is flawed in many cases. I for one would think that an enquiry by a neutral group of professionals would be a better approach in many technical cases - and trial by jury ought not to be permitted in property cases where the amount of money involved is less than twice the cost of running the court for the time involved.