I am amazed and worried how airline business has changed the last few years. In general we operate far from any boundary in the airline business. Only through training and sharing experience we can learn where the boundaries of operating an aircraft in the real world are (own limits and limits of aircraft/systems/atc/weather etc). In the current way training of new pilots AND recurrent training are organized we do not realize any more where these boundaries are nor can we detect how quickly we are approaching a boundary. Sim rides are stamped with legal requirements instead of interactive and constructive learning, newbe pilots follow a strict program (=minimum cost) without gaining the experience to approach or cross a limit. The way companies run their operation also does not leave many room for input of your own. For almost every decision in the process there is department or rule dictating the way forward. In combination with tight schedules (and other time factors) it does not leave much room to think and realize what we are doing once we are in the flow putting signatures on every piece of paper prepared by others.
It really makes me feel sometimes as a bus driver without the realization of running a potantial very dangerous business if not everyone is on top of it knows exactly what he/she is doing. Be it either from experience or proper training fit for the airline operation we are conducting everyday.
I think it will need some research to define the exact problem before a proper solution will be found (if there really is a problem). I personally will feel better with an (ab initio) co-pilot next to me if I know he/she is trained to the limits and has already learned to detect an upcomming problem before it is really there. Simply the ability to recognize the feeling something is wrong, the right knowledge and experience, how little this may be.