Does truth lie somewhere in between?
Barit1, probably, but, even though passenger aviation is getting safer, I think, most would agree, it's from technology, not quality of the pilots. A typical airline passenger wouldn't know Bernoulli's Principle, from Principal Bernoulli, at the local primary school, so they put their confidence in the square jawed, confident and competent, pilot flying the plane, that, they presume, knows Bernoulli's Principle from Principal Bernoulli, and put themselves in that person's charge. They may have to, at times, but, they don't want to find themselves in some slack jawed, mealy mouthed, pimple faced, goofball's aircraft. Humans want to feel comfortable, so, in the absence of the understanding of science, technology, or other factors, they'll go with, who they have confidence in. So the image of commercial pilots, is of commercial importance. No matter how safe the technology gets, as long as the flying public expects to have pilots, that know how to fly, operating the aircraft they are traveling on, human error will erode their confidence in air travel. Otherwise, passenger airplanes might as well be those driverless trains, that take you from terminal A to B to C to D, etc.