I also believe that a pilot operating said craft is none different than a car driver, heavy equipment operator etc... Being proficient in the machine they operate. Hell yeah the MD-11 is demanding.... Reality is relativity.
muduckace,
As an md11 pilot who works for the same company you do, I think your opinion of a what a pilot does is a little skewed. Heavy equipment operator? Car driver? Come on now, just this past trip we landed on the backside of a typhoon (30G50) in NRT, landed in a 1/2 mile vis pouring rain storm in SIN, had ~5 birdstrikes during flare at 50 ft in KUL, and then to top it off, had 3 go-arounds due to vis and windshear in PEN. All this on 1 trip. Please explain how I'm considered no different than a car driver or heavy equipment operator?
I'm pretty sure the knowledge I've accrued over the past 10,000 hours of safe flying all over this planet is a little more "relative to reality" than you might think.