Eclan, that's just my point. Things have changed, quality of most pilots skills have deteriorated.
I said we insist in 10 hours ICUS, others are looking at going to 50 hours. I have been told 50 hours is typical now in South Africa with similar flying.
As per wet season flying, it's always best to plan for the worse and train for it. If you are flying daily it will happen that you will get caught occasionally.That's part of situational awareness training. In the old days it was easier to set a newbie off with very limited ICUS or no ICUS time at all, such as yourself as you came with a higher base set of skills. As you said you have been out of it for 20 years and a lot has changed in that time. Just have a chat to any CP.
Guess I am annoyed because the cost to the newbie to get a CPL has risen and the standard has dropped. They aren't getting value for money. We at the end have go back and spend time and money(ICUS is dead money) getting a pilot to line that 20 years ago wouldn't have got past a check ride.
There are still some good training orgs out there, and the students stand out as the CFI's take pride in their fledglings. So don't think it is all Gen Y. Most of these are small training orgs or flying clubs. So it's all not doom and gloom. But the alarm bells are ringing.
MS