I certainly don't recall the same constant stream of accidents resulting from pilots who simply didn't know the basics of controlling an aeroplane. (Besides, since 20-25 years, aircraft are crammed with safety devices, such as egpws, TCAS, RAAS, etc which have enhanced safety along with almost universal precision approaches. Actually most 737s were classics at that time, and there were a hell of a lot of early gen types still operating on those days, so I think your argumentt is incredibly poor
, and certainly in my early airlines, most captains were ex-services and FOs the same, or ex air taxi or basic TP. I guess national carriers were increasingly ab initio at that time. Prior to that, eg Hamble was very heavy on flying skills, with a hefty chop rate. Nowadays, if a youngster has the money, no matter how clueless they are, they will find a seat on an airliner somewhere.