Some pretty strong statements.

Just so I'm clear, no matter what a pilot does, no matter how large or small the infraction, no matter how many people get killed, no matter how gross the neglegence: We need to "back them up" because it could be us one day?

With regards to your other statement: Hi, I'm Jay5150 and although I never thought I was god's gift to aviation, you now know your first. I would submit that if every pilot you know has lined up on the wrong runway for takeoff or landing, then you need to start hanging around some different pilots.


On the original topic:

Look I wish the guy well and feel terrible for him, and his family. But the bottom line is although there were contributing factors (there always are), these guy's actions were directly resposible for this crash. In the end that's your job. To stop the chain. For every accident like this, there are countless others that are avoided through the crew doing exactly what they are paid for and what the pax expect of them: not letting things like this happen if it is in any way avoidable, which in this case it was. Could it happen to others, sure. But what could happen doesn't really matter, it's what did happen.

I guess what I'm saying is when your mistake, even if it was helped along by other factors (ATC, construction, etc.) gets a planeload of people killed, you usually pay for that mistake with your life. In this rare instance it didn't, so consider yourself lucky. But...you don't get to fly people anymore, period.

My opinion only, of course