McNugget, I understand 1500 hours isn't in any way a magic number, how about 500 hours in an aircraft that isn't 100% reliant on automatics? 400 hours? Take two extremes. 500 hours flying circuits in a 150, or 500 hours in the Red Arrows, there is no comparison between the two, but neither of those guys would have been afraid to disconnect and follow an RA.
Over a beer, we could probably put our heads together and come up with 100 different flying jobs that don't offer excellent opportunities to hone your hand flying skills, (I probably wouldn't list banner towing as one, most banner towing pilots have at least scared themselves and learnt a few home truths, but at least they did it in a 182 alone, not in a 777). What about 1500 hours flying RPT in command of a two crew turbo prop that doesn't have an autopilot? Good experience? Are these the guys we are attracting? Of course 1500 is a token number, but it is a number that extensive industry consultation came up with, not a couple of pilots over a few beers, or a discussion on pprune.
Maintaining proficiency infers the maintenance of the skills we had when we were hired, and applying them and honing them on the type we are flying now. It is our responsibility to maintain them, and to improve them, within the guidelines stipulated in our SOPs. It certainly DOES NOT infer developing skills that we never had in the first place, or something that we saw once in a time critical sim session aimed at meeting minimum regulation requirements, not at training individuals to a proficient level.