For all the wannabees here who think that ''willingness to learn" and competant a/c handling skills in the sim make a good pilot... think again... it may LEAD someone into becoming a good pilot but pilots are not created in flightschools they're created over many years of hard won experience... there are no shortcuts. Quoting low logbook time airforce/army pilots as being competant doesn't hack it... Those people are chosen for exceptional qualities and every hour in the book is an intense training experience in a tough environment... and the majority of initial applicants fail to make it .. those that do are not the average FO found in any small or commuter airline. For those of us with more modest talents we become decent safe pilots by learning more slowly in the dark cold real world of icing/storm fronts/embedded CBs/hundreds of approaches to minima with fuel guages threatening to undo us before reaching position #1 at our alternate and having to explain to ops directors why we chose to override the fuel recommended by the computer and take an extra ton or so. All this comes over years of trying to get right seemingly minor decisions that have to be made at 0800 that can kill you at 1600 ...
Like it or not.. a smart uniform being marched through the a/p terminal does not automatically indicate a competant pilot... even if it has four rings sewn on each sleeve.