The ignorant flying public and media are fortunate that thousands of professional pilots often are willing (although forced by the civilian and ex-military helo career ladders) to often work for two or more years at minimum wage (a professional wage?) as First Officers while waiting for the seniority to upgrade to Captain, flying Beechcraft, Saabs, DeHavilland, Dornier, Shorts propjets, not to mention the Canadian, German, Brazilian and British etc regional jets. This happens in order to transport people to and from so many small and large airports, working 13-hour shifts, or more, without rest or a meal break: and this refers to the very common US aviation landscape, not including situations in other countries.
Remember the Don Henley song, "Dirty Laundry"? 'See the bubble-headed bleachblond, comes on at five, she can tell you 'bout a plane crash, with a gleam in her eye...[I could have made it as an actress, but I wound up here]...get the widow on the set... we want dirty laundry'. Check Henley's song "In the Garden of Allah": interesting comments, and it sounds like the voice of O.J Simpson.
The media uses any bit of implied hysteria, terrorism, industry-wide quality control issues, and has been known to tilt a camera at an angle, in order to photograph aircraft in what appear to be a steep dive...just to keep your focus on their channel (WCCO etc), in its eternal quest for higher placement, during the 'rating$ sweeps', which help determine advertising revenue contract$.
Last edited by Ignition Override; 9th Jan 2003 at 05:04.