millerscourt,
you are quite correct but it's quite a long story with those SAA characters. Besides the SAA guys, KAL also had quite a number of fakers. KAL pilot training is basically " cook book " style and if the fakers memorise all the " recipes " and rehearse those seemingly endless callouts ( more to impress rather than anything of substance ), wallah they sail through the OE training. Throw in lots of " yes sirs " and survivor tips from conniving fellow expats, they probably sail through comfortably.
Other than the B744 fleet, many of the Alteon checkers on the simulators had never physically flown the planes they are training/checking on. Some have not been with any major carriers; they got into Alteon through dodgy recommendations, good luck joining at the right time and good playacting in the box. Hence many had real difficulty spotting the fakers in the sim training phase. Once let loose on OE, many fakers cleared through the hoops easily flying cook book style. Their deficiencies only show up once they are paired in a 3 man crew schedule where they roster 2 captains and 1 F/O whereby the everyday demands of real life flight operations slowly peel off their masquerade.
Of course there are excellent type rated instructors who had physically flown the planes they are instructing on and a precious few who still do great job despite not having flown on type. However fakers still slip through on account of those sloppy ones.