Looking at the way of GA in this country.
- 45-60 hours training to get a PPL, often over several years.
- A nominal average currency of 6 hours per year.
- Flying costs which are so high that an increasing number of PPLs don't achieve much more than that.
- GA aircraft increasingly being filled up with large amounts of avionics that PPLs don't properly understand, but don't have the sense to turn off and ignore.
So, some things tend to go by the board, particularly checks, lookout and briefings - things that to somebody military trained like yourself are second nature. An unhappy situation, but unless we become very restrictive of who is allowed to fly, we have to accept and allow for it.
G