I really shouldn't bite...... but...
No one is arguing that CRJ or turboprop pilots are not fine aviators, especially as they will have much better currency of stick & rudder than us widebody boys. They do however lack the domain experience needed to safely operate in our diverse and sometimes challenging domain.
For example, imagine how well you would have controlled rest on a Himalayan route, with someone in either seat who has no experience of metric, Chinese airspace, etops, DARD (puke), HF, engrish, etc, etc, etc. Bit hard for them to make good quality decisions, when they just do not have the required experience to do so.
Yes they can read the Jepps (maybe), but it is not the same as having domain experience. Personally I have no problem with them at all, as long as the training system spends the appropriate amount of time to get them up to a decent level of domain ability. But there lies the problem, training does not have enough trainers to train the new trainers, because of all the trainers that have resigned (whoa).
So lets keep this intelligent, a Royal Navy pilot is REALLY good at skimming across the waves at 500mph and blowing up a battleship, a short haul pilot is REALLY good at short haul and a long haul pilot is good at......
