they had some ludicrously lax rules on (61.55) second in command ratings that technically allowed engineers with PPL's and hardly any training into the RHS of some very heavy iron
This has never been the case. Operating commercially requires a commercial pilot certificate at a minimum (it's common to have pilots with only a few hundred hours flying "heavy iron" in europe, remember...whereas the same jobs in the US typically required pilots to have 5,000 hours or more).
As for a pilot with a few hours and a flight engineer or mechanic with a private pilot certificate flying a Gulfstream IV...show me where that happens in the US.
As for the last few pages being relevant, clearly you didn't bother to read it, else you'd find it most certainly has been...and educational for those who participated.