Originally Posted by wallybird7
When a pilot is released to fly he/she is qualified. Period.
One could also presume that after 5 years of engineering school a former student is fully qualified to build a full inertial/gps/airdata based navigation system. In my experience that is not the case.
With most junior engineers they spend some time really learning portions of their trade the college never had time to teach. All junior engineers are not qualified to take on really large systems until they can tackle the smaller tasks with aplomb.
I suspect there is not much difference between engineers fresh out of college with their BS degree and pilots fresh out of pilot training. (Certainly if the 9/11 terrorists could even be accepted to a flight training program an engineering degree with some serious coverage of aviation is not needed.)
I also note that a doctor right out of college isn't ready. He spends time as a resident. Then he continues to gain skill as he ages and indulges in extra training.
If pilots don't learn as they gain experience, I am not sure I want to fly anymore. That would say something terribly frightening about the attitude and intelligence of pilots. Fortunately reading this list make it obvious pilots do gain skills with experience.