Barney,
Everyone is underconfident because none of us can afford to fly enough. I have 500+ hours, and i still worry about every little thing, especially if I haven't flown for a while. I worry especially about flying f/w when most of my flying is rotary, and I amaze people sometimes by refusing to fly solo because I don't feel safe. And this is part of the problem - I seem to be one of relatively few people who will talk about these fears. Flying clubs are full of people trying to behave as though they're confident pilots, when actually they're scared !!!!less...and if they're not, they probably should be. If we all admitted it we'd be more likely to help each other out, it would be easier to ask someone to fly with you for a few circuits, as a safety pilot, or to come on a trip to share the workload. Just what is it about flying that makes people so determined to put on this act of appearing to know it all?