On the subject of pilots being put under pressure to fly, here in Ireland we had a recent controversy when a senior Government Minister pressurised an Air Corps pilot to fly when fog was forecast. And to compound the matter his representative phoned up the pilot again to 'rub it in' when the fog didn't materialise.
Varadkar defends Coveney?s call to pilot over cancelled flight
The Minister's excuse was "I'm a 'hands on' type of guy". You couldn't make it up.