I wouldn't even hold these guys accountable if throughout the years they were told that they were competent.
A very interesting point!
In an incredibly highly regulated profession such as aviation, a person is not primarily hired to fly a plane because they are a good pilot. They are hired because they have fulfilled a certain amount of regulatory criteria involving, hours flown, training modules successfully completed, written examinations passed, check rides flown, sim sessions done etc. etc.
As this is highly target-driven, an ab initio student pilot transitions psychologically from 'learning to fly' to completing an increasingly complex series of tasks which end up with yet another 'box' being ticked. When the required number of boxes have been ticked, hours have been flown, sim sessions completed the student is not so much 'able' to fly as 'allowed' to fly. After all, many driving schools don't teach you to drive, they simply teach you to pass the driving test.
Anyway, back to the original point.
Does a 'modern', qualified pilot actually really know that they can fly competently or do they simply trust the 'system' to make that judgement about them?
You often see the phrase 'only a PPL' used on this forum as a self-put down or a justification for 'not posting something very useful to the debate'. At the risk of ruffling feathers, I would suggest that a qualified PPL has as accurate an assessment of their own flying skills if not more so, than a newly-qualified or low-time First Officer on a modern jet transport.
