Are hours pretty much meaningless after a thousand hours or so?
If a 200hr company chosen and trained cadet has pretty much the same ability as a 1500hr CPL who gained the hours via GA, do hours really matter that much?
I can understand that stick skills may reach a plateau after a while (providing the pilot remains current) but have always thought it is not so much hands on stick time but experience (and particularly command experience) that continues to grow with the log book hours and is inherently valuable, above hand skills (once the hand skills reach a suitable level).
After 2-3000 hours, do more hours merely indicate seniority rather than experience and value as a pilot?
Is it that modern transport aircraft do not really need that much skill and judgement in the RHS to safely operate and so we can happily let the pilot gain the hours and experience straight from there, ie actual FO experience isn't that important in the safe operation of the aircraft, you can put a low level (experience) person in there and let them gain what they need?
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I would like to think there is more to a pilot's value than reaching a competency standard. You cannot put a 'competency level' against experience but to me, that doesn't make it unimportant.