Hours and Landings might measure experience but so what, I guarantee you pretty much all pilots that have crashed airliners have hours, landings and experience.
What is needed is:
1. Aptitude!
2. Great Training!
3. A worthwhile check where the pilot demonstrates appropriate Capability and Skill!
On all checks a pass is a coat of paint from a failure and typically many airlines and regulators set the bar too low. In the present regulatory regime you can repeat pretty much everything and partial pass some items before retraining and retesting to get a minimal pass. How would you fancy being operated on by a surgeon with this sort of record.
Around the world pilots buy licenses, in some places more so than in others. It isn't in a Training Organisation's interests to fail their customers; they will just flee to their competitors. Some airlines don't allow their First Oficers to land the plane or Captains to do anything but an Autoland, yet they still count as recent. Until the industry wakes up and requires airlines to select pilots well and then pay the cash to train them/keep them current; these types of events will continue it is as simple as that.
The Industry views crashes as a cost of doing business but not paying for the training of pilots; how sad can that be?
Amen to that!
A quick halfway fix would also be to avoid rookies to fly together. As displayed here with Asiana, a rookie on the LHS and a rookie on the RHS as TRE, is a recipe for disaster, even if both can produce impressive records on other seats/types/functions, you can also add destinations/regions to this list.
I know it would take a few dollars more to implement a function in the rostering automations, but experience should always be paired with a trainee or a regional newcomer. But at the same time i guess these few bucks would give too many little grey, wobbling hairs to the bean counters that seem to be in charge of safety today, so even here we have to forget about common sense.
And by the way i would greatly appreciate a general freeze period for rookies to become trainers. It takes time to get used to a seat/function and a good trainer should be able to transmit experience, not only preach the sops and company bs.