ECON cruise, LR cruise...
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: MIRSI hold - give or take...
Age: 52
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The employment history of the individuals involved in the various crashes described above has little bearing on the eventual outcome of the accidents. The training, the individuals had received, on the other hand, did have considerable bearing on the outcome. You can be taught to handle most scenarios in a sim, but the syllabus must be suited to the background and ability of the individual.
Stall recognition and recovery in an A330 is not something you get inherently better at because you have bored holes in the sky with a Baron or Metroliner for 2000 hrs (otherwise half of the incidents angelorange mentiones above should never have happened, including the Manx, Colgan and Helitrans ones) - but if you are unsuitable for operating any kind of aeroplane, chances are that you will be weeded out by the time you have hours enough to apply for the airlines - or you will have killed yourself, taking only a few pax with you.
Separating the wheat from the chaff (with minimum pax exposure) is what minimum airline entry standards ensure. The unsuitable ones will not get beyond the pistons or TPs while the good'uns get a seal of approval - you survived 2000 hrs in small aircraft with little or no support in the way of SOPs, operations or management support and still didn't kill yourself - so you're safe...
It is tough luck for the ones that can fine well manage on a cadet-direct-to-AB-course (because they do exist, and there are quite a few of them) - but until we get better at pre-screening suitable individuals, the darwinian process seems the safest approach.