I had an interesting experience recently, and all turned out fine (otherwise you would've read about it in the news), but it made me think about pilots and how we trust them blindly.
Of course we do, because we (mostly) don't know how to fly, don't know their background/training/hours flown, nor do we have a choice who is piloting the plane (you cannot know it in advance, even if you wanted to google them).

It was a flight that was diverted because of weather issues, the pilot stating that operations was telling him to wait a bit and fly on, but the weather was only getting worse (wind gusts 35 mph) and he just wasn't comfortable flying there on the short runway.

I decided to get off, and arrange my own transportation. Before that, the pilot had spoken to operations and they told him another plane (same type) was flying in, so if they could make it he should be able to as well).

I got off, the plane did end up flying to the destination fine. But how does one deal with the situation when the pilot is uncomfortable and somebody (above him) is saying "do it"?

Should we presume operations knows more? Does a pilot's discomfort mean much? Maybe (like the South African pilot) he actually isn't certified and so knows his limitations and will ensure he doesn't go anywhere near the limit of what he can do?