Just to help the thread creep along a bit....
I've always assumed that the reasons that pilot salaries are in decline is because it takes so long to train a pilot to push that button.
But I'm just a simple controller. And I've just sat through a bunch of presentations about how the computers are going to tell me how to control aeroplanes soon. Looks like my days of wanging the planes round the sky will be coming to an end soon - in Europe anyway. Thank heaven for retirement - I should just beat the next wave of automation!