I think this thread is in danger of getting rather confusing with all the references to the new Cougar report, with its different region, attitudes, legislative framework and training regimes.
In the UK pilot incapacitation is covered in initial (MCC) training and recurrent training. For us, its a 36 month item but after the ETAP we included it in offshore ops recurrent training as well.
The trouble is that in the Sim, pilots are more or less expecting it and have no difficulty in recognising it and taking control.
However in the real world it can be much more subtle, unexpected and accompanied by other factors.
Therefore I would say that no reasonable amount of training can guarantee that the other pilot will take control in adequate time, especially if its the co taking over from the capt. We can only expect that this will probably happen.
In the case of the L2 its still too early for us to know whether there was a failure to take over by the co, although it certainly seems a possibility.
As to allowing recruitment of copilots only who already have thousands of hours, not only is this impractical at a time when the industry needs to recruit fairly heavily, but it also results in the recruitment of people that arrive with a lot of preconceived ideas and possible bad habits. One of the very few new recruits that we had to sack after many months of trying, for failing to reach a satisfactory standard, had about 5000 hrs.
I think its ridiculous to expect junior copilots to have the same skills and confidence as a high time captain - that is how the system works, one highly experienced pilot, one further down the learning curve than his captain (you never get to the top of the learning curve!). The captain is not supposed to screw up but if he does, the probability of a good outcome is less than if the roles were reversed.