I have never mentioned Captaincy (nor, I believe, has anyone else on this thread) - this is about whether pilots deserve more money(and also why discussions amongst people with differing points of view are much harder on t'internet than face to face as you cannot see if the other party is getting the point you are making and it is a very long and tedious process to do this online as we are seeing - not that I think we will ever agree, but it is always nice to be sure what we disagree over).
In answer to your question the level I am referring to is a shiny new fATPL/IR because that is the point up to which you can do as much time as you like to get up to standard.
To get to the LHS is an entirely different case from that mentioned above since an airline will be able to see your performance daily and know you and your strengths/weaknesses and trainability. Also, unlike the CPL/IR if you are a bit weak in certain aspects of 737 handling (as an example) you cannot put the time in to make it up outside that which is allocated to you by the company - so from this point on the fact that everyone can do it but will learn at different speeds becomes supremely important because if you cannot do it with the time allocated then you can't put in any extra.
I also agree with you that many will not make this jump - I hope I am not one of them when my time comes but I will just have to wait and see.
A CPL or IR skills test is a one off deal. The standards in these tests are very high but that does not mean that they can't be passed by a weak pilot on a good day (or conversely failed by a strong pilot on a bad day) but your school should have given you sufficient training to reach that stage. Unless I am mistaken (and I may well be - that is my entire point about forming opinions based on things more knowledgable people can tell you ) there is a min number of hours required before attempting skills tests but no maximum (and even if there is a max you could fly every day for a year with a mate and not log it). But the bottom line is that if you have enough money you can fly regularly for years in order to get up to the standard and I believe that most people could do that.
My point is that many people seem to think that they are something special because they have made it to the RHS of a transport aircraft - and it is that which I disagree with. It is laudable achievement, yes but in my opinion not any more so than many other jobs with greatly varying financial rewards and demands on one's time. It is also a notion held by a large proportion of the population - as evidenced by the fact that people will go into bars pretending to be a pilot in order to 'tap off'! (and also on anonymous chat forums - that I can't understand; it is not as if that will help you pull!)
And I am aware that I am focussing on written exams - purely because they have a very easily definable score at the end of it - flying skills tests are much harder to quantify and the standards achieved by the same individual will vary much more widely in this aspect than in written exams and hence are much more subjective (but then again being subjective about skill and co-ordination is the main thrust of my arguement, so touche.)
Your contention that the ability to drive a car is on a par with being a professional airline pilot remains, in my opinion, invalid.
My contention is not that the ability to drive a car is on a par with being a professional airline pilot. it is that if you have the ability to be
trained to drive a car (which in the discussion you have) then you also have the ability to be
trained as a professional airline pilot. You also need dedication, time and money amongst other things which many people do not have and hence they shall never fly - but it doesn't mean that they couldn't - we will probably always disagree on this but I won't be losing any sleep over it and neither should you!
How can you hope to have decent terms and conditions throughout your career with an attitude like that? Airline bosses will be laughing all the way to the bank....................
I think the problem is that many believe as pilots they are a special case and so do not realise that they are simply qualified professionals at a cost to their employer. While many sit and complain that they are not treated specially enough they need to bargain as employees with skills - nothing more and nothing less. Briefly going back to the doctors case - that is why they were screwed over years ago, they thought their special training status would ensure special treatment - it didn't. Recently they have negotiated as highly trained employees and guess what - they have got paid more money and now work fewer hours! Do we have something to learn from this?