I think that the truth is, many pilots (not all before some of you scream at me) don’t necessarily have an indepth view of the industry. I’ve spoken to a few who couldn’t really talk around fairly basic industry topics, perhaps such as liberalisation (purely as an example). I think some pilots view their role as finished when they leave the cockpit each day, they just turn up, fly the damn thing and go home, leaving others to consider the ramifications of the industry. Essentially they are in an operational role, and with an “ask the pilot” column you’d expect them to be answering operational questions, and even the Air India colourscheme issue is hardly an indepth issue LOL.

There are others however that are very concious of what is going on, and these tend to be the pilots that eventually move into management at later stages in their careers.

I think it’s quite the opposite, at least from my experience, that most pilots are quite aware of the workings of the industry. Publicly the pilots opinion of the industry isn’t as widely sought or appreciated as it’s bound to be bias towards their interests and there for not of consequence to the average Joe. I find that most that ask for a pilots opinion are only doing so out of curiosity of what someone on the inside believes is really happening.

Pilots tend to follow even the most obscure branch of the industry knowing that every little event has a ripple effect that could very well intersect with their own career, company, equipment, pay, retirement, etc.