It does make the mind boggle, where I worked ‘back in the day’ we employed newbies with bare min CPL. Yes it meant a bit of aircraft washing, a bit of hanging around ops, then low and behold into the mighty 210.
Now I can’t remember how many hours we did but it was ICUS until the check pilots were happy.
What does ICUS cost an operator if it’s not a full load? Absolutely nothing.
Yeah it takes time but sometimes I think people forget where they started or how they got a start. Look at that disgraceful pay for a checkride at AF in years gone bye.