Captain Harwood,
The degradation of skills I see is not limited to direct neglect, nor would it be. A "Thick through Disuse" type thing, to where the skills are vestigial, if any remain at all. A great deal of hype re: the platform, at the expense of Laissez faire, le Pilotage?
Now that would be acceptable, should the numbers firm up a sound reason for allowing skills to atrophy. There are none, as you aptly show, 447 is a sad example of a precious penalty for allowing a "blind spot"?
One small addition, the market will not support levels of auto didactic skill, the investment will be ignored, and the entry level, de minimus, will prevail. Thus it actually is a direct degradation, though in this case, market driven.
There is one additional disincentive to "hiring" the self taught (self invested) man/woman: "That one Clive, looks like a troublemaker, to me!"
