latetonight, Wiley;
"The average ex-cadet is usually very good at flying an airliner",
I probably would have been more accurate to have said: "The average ex-cadet is usually very good at operating an airliner".
9/11 taught us that flying an airliner can be quickly and easily trained but no operations people have taken that lesson to it's logical concluson wherein flying an aircraft is, or should be, a very small part of the job.
Those who think that manipulating the controls and pushing the buttons in the right order is "airline flying" don't know what they don't know.
It's the same as thinking and believing that holding a scalpel is being a doctor.
Come to think of it, why don't medical schools adopt the airlines' and the Regulators' lead, do away with long and expensive Intern programs and start graduating "doctor cadets" who will be given 240hrs simulation and then issued MDML's...-
Multi-Doctor Medical Licences, so they can be part of the team in the O.R. for real but only with another doctor around?