not suggesting at all that a company should be looking to hire the best person for them, just that shortlisting and interviewing 40 should be considered somewhat over the top, (if that is the case, hence the question.
Goodness, if you can't cull the applications down to 6 or so (or even a dozen if you are so minded) something is wrong.
It may just be there are 39 dickheads out of 40 pilots out there, in any case, it's their business how they cull.