maxed-out,
The Airbus is a very straight forward aircraft to land. An experienced pilot has no problem at all, so long as they use the correct technique.
The issue is with learner pilots (generally considered as those with less than 1500 hours). When learning, it is good to have dual controls - so the FO can be safely corrected and so he can feel how it is done.
My point was that due to the incidents we have had, we are now nervous and somewhat trigger happy in the training. So what will become a good pilot at 1500 hours has his career ruined due to a mild mishap in the sim at 150 hours. Nothing to do with raw ability, just a combination of no experience and a moment of bad luck.
Do not believe that you can even approach the mustard with anything remotely sharp until you have a couple of years under your belt. And I can assure you that just because you can get through all the hoops at the beginning, you are not "there" yet. In fact, a healthy belief that you are no where near "there" is good for your entire career.
Callum,
As a pilot, you will always have a good Plan B (and most of the time a pretty broad outline on Plan C). Most pilots come from some kind of other background, and most have a degree. So if you lose your medical, get made redundant, get bored or get fired - you have another skill you can fall back on. You have to consider what position you will be in if the tender chain breaks at any point.
You also mention that you want to "live the dream". So many of us have chased that same dream too - only to discover that dreams are totally different to reality. I read a post on here once about waking yourself up at 3am and going for a one hour circular drive until you got back home. Then get into the cupboard under the stairs, close the door, and do simple sudokus for 10 hours (leave a Hoover on outside the cupboard for realistic noise). When done, do the same one hour circular drive. And repeat for 5 days in a row....