CK you're absolutely right, and if pilots encountered emergencies every day far fewer would wish to fly for a living and pilots would be paid far more money to do the job. Modern day flying is overwhelmingly routine and non-eventful - we sit there while the computer does its stuff. In fifteen years of turbo-prop flying I've had one engine failure and maybe six other non-scheduled visits to the check list. Perhaps I've just been lucky but I reckon the average firemen sees more excitement in a month than most pilots see on line in a decade, thank goodness. Anyway, no intrinsic value attaches to a job - when all is said and done it's all about supply and demand, however unfair that may seem.