Surgeons and pilots cannot be compared and I wish we'd stop using that comparison.
There are some similarities, but the skill level and knowledge needed by a surgeon FAR outweighs what we do.
"If we make one mistake we kill hundreds, they can only kill one" is also a load of nonsense. They only have to make small mistakes to kill someone, we have to make some pretty major boo boo's to get ourselves into a position to kill people by our own mistakes.
I know plenty of pilots (obviously) and I know quite a few surgeons too, we are similar in many ways, but all I know would definately be in the higher percentiles of pilots. I even know a couple who pilots aswell. All I can say about them, is that they are superb pilots and instructors. They are calm and thoughtful, as far from the gung-ho scalpel jock stereotype as it is possible to get.
Nowadays, you don't really need to be that smart to be an airline pilot (this site proves that time and again!) whereas to become a consultant surgeon, you have to be smarter and more dedicated than we do.
This isn't to say that some pilots aren't very smart and talented, but the barriers to entry for our profession are far lower than a surgeon's.