Aircrafts for dummies

One thing you must understand about a commercial jet pilot is the fact that computers do most of the flying these days and the pilot more or less plays a supervision role. Also during take off and landing (the most dangerous times) pilots get very busy. However a pilot really earns their salary on the few occasions when something goes wrong and they have to make critical decisions on the actions they take. If for some reason a pilot is not alert enough at these times (either due to lack of oxygen) or because they are drunk, then the chances of making mistakes is multiplied many times over.