I feel that the responsibility of a pilot flying sevral hundered people over a crowded city is not appreciated enough.

However, many jobs have lives in the balance. Multiple lives. In the example below, 114 dead, and 200 injured. All due to engineering/construction. Engineer and contractor failed to realize the implications of a design change.

Hyatt Regency walkway collapse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rather graphic ABC news coverage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWdnvWrlKE