Snarlie
Given your handle I will try to bear in mind that your comments are more than likely a wind-up and if you knew me you would know that I am the personification of 'journeyman aviator' and not the ignorant 'specialist sim instructor' you allege. I have probably made more deck landings on dark and stormy nights than you have had hot dinners. Anyway, let's not get into a pissing contest.
Your comments arrived on the day the newspapers told the story of the 14 year old girl who is now paralysed from the waist down as a result of a mistake by a doctor during a routine surgical operation. Now, was that mistake the kind of 'error of omission' that can overtake all of us at some time, even the basically competent, or will this turn out to be one of those stories that end with colleagues saying things like "it was always going to happen one day, the guy is incompetent and should never have been allowed to practice". Such stories of incompetence arose after the wave of infant deaths during surgery at a Bristol hospital and that comment was a common one. There were doctors that knew that they had amongst them colleagues who would kill one day but no scheme existed at the time to monitor competence and remove/retrain the incompetent. I believe such a scheme exists now.
Our industry is supposed to benefit from annual proficiency checks and these have a dual purpose in my view. They provide the opportunity for training and they verify competency. If the system is functioning properly I don't believe the rough and ready survey would reveal that there are a significant number of incompetent pilots out there. Why is it not working???
We are talking about guys whose incompetence smacks you in the face very quickly when you are teaching them and despite a very sympathetic and gently-gently approach they are unable to achieve a decent standard.
I ask you, do you want to be the one offering comfort to your colleagues in the crew room when one of these guys contrives to take out your best chum by saying "it was always going to happen one day, the guy is incompetent and should never have been allowed a commercial license". .
I ask the question again - why is the competence management process of licensing and proficiency checks not working as it should?
G.