yes its a broad sweep.
Its very easy to focus on OAT due to the marketing spin.
Why do you say its less risk Gully?
Having someone who looks at the risks and takes an educated risk assessment of the risk then takes the most economic courses of action.
Being able to listen to other peoples arguments and if you don't agree with them produce a valid argument in return why you disagree with them.
Being able to take other peoples points of view and if you can see thier point adjust your views accordingly. Its a CRM thing don't worry many don't.
And if your really disagree with someone standing your ground and telling them you don't accept it and you won't accept it.
All part and parcel of being a Commander which is what you really are, thats what your CPL is meant to mean. There shouldn't be such a thing as a First officer. It should be a Captain under training.
These days with most of the Jobs that are on the go for low hour pilots you are looking at command in 1-3 years with under 4000 hours under your belt. The old legacy carriers who prefer intergrated (which I think is down to 2 now BMI and BA) you are looking at decades to command plenty of time to get bollocked to within an inch of your life until you get it right. These legacy people have now learned that even as nice as it was getting wined and dinned on your money there is actually alot less risk taking on a previously type rated line trained pilot. So they do.
And strangley enough your professional competence is usually related to your RT on the line. If you are gash and bollock's at your RT you can be the best handling pilot in the world and still get abuse every day. You can be slack dash and just within limits all the time and not get a single bad word if your RT is spot on. And getting the bulk of your training done in the US will not do you any favours.
Maybe it's just that I am professional pilot with 2 type ratings under my belt and have over 2000 hours commercial experence and see what come's in door and have listened to the LHS bitching like hell when instead of sitting on thier bum drinking tea they have to wake up and actually monitor whats going on for a change.
The bitching applys however you got trained some folk have it others don't for a while. Some are very unhappy FO's for life because they really don't see what the problem is and they wouldn't have the situation awarness to know which direction the alt is in. Or they are just bone idle and won't do the book work.
The problem is that the job you are expected to do is nothing like what you have been trained for. It is nothing like you expected. Your main job isn't steering the plane its just a bonus which makes life fun. Planes don't fly on jet A they fly on paper. There are 10's of people who have an input on your working day most of which to have a clue what you really do. The cpl/IR and MCC is mearly a tick in a box. Apart from pointing and talking the rest of the real skills are learned on the job.