Paul -

You have the point exactly right.

I've heard the phrase "Every landing you walk away from is a good landing."

This situation is different from those, such as an emergency decompression, where there could arguably be airline culpability for the uncomfortable situation. Plus, people are commonly injured in decomps (ear injuries, bloody noses, etc.).

In this situation, pax should just be thankful for the skills found in the hands of the pilots. Those skills, combined with ice cold nerves, more than their fair share of smarts and thousands of hours of practice are what separate them from bus drivers.

Greg