Look at the Air France airbus crash , an inexperienced FO had no idea what to do when confronted with unreliable airspeed or how to recover from a stall. It only took a few minutes to drop from FL330 into the ocean killing everyone on board .
Incompetence perhaps, a lack of training definitely played a part , maybe he was marginal on his checks but given the benefit of the doubt . We will never know ,but take the same situation with a newly checked out SO crewed together with a marginal FO who happens to be in the toilet when the situation occurs .
We will all be watching it unfold on Air accident investigation because it will be a similar outcome . I don’t blame the trainers , many of them have voiced concerns about the level of experience only to have their concerns dismissed by management .
Experience is the key and experience is gained by thousands of hours in the cockpit . Most of the older captains started their careers in fast jets or flying charter aircraft sometimes in shocking weather . We learnt from our mistakes as we went along but we all learnt to fly by the seat of our pants . I started out crop spraying Ask a newbie today how to accomplish a stall turn , more than likely you would only get a blank stare. The new breed of pilot starts flying a jet as an SO and as a consequence misses out on that Vital stick and rudder basic training . It’s not their fault it’s just how it is today , but that vital element that is missing becomes apparent in unusual or unexpected situations outside the QRH