A maintenance engineer friend recently remarked on a visit he had had from an CAA inspector. After some discussion it became evident the inspector effectively knew nothing of wood and fabric aircraft at all. He was competent on large metal structures - standard airliner type construction - but not on either wood or (yet) composites.
It appeared the CAA no longer considers that knowledge essential in their inspectors. Eventually, that limits someone. The ability to extrapolate, to compare systems and processes is important in engineering, especially at a strategic or legislative level. In the long run that cannot be good for safety, I'd suggest.