A few years ago I was flying P2V Neptunes in wildland fire. I was chief pilot of the company and as such had the final say on who would be upgraded. We had a candidate who had flown air tankers in C 119's and S2's, then we got on with the majors. He flew Airbus from JFK to LHR for a few years, and retired. He wanted back in tankers. I flew with him about 15 hours in the P2, he could take off rotate and flair with the best of us. He could not navigate with needle thingies, he could not fly the airplane. Twice in the same traffic pattern he slowed the airplane to 100 kts and DIDN'T KNOW IT. His hand flying skills were dead and burried. On the other hand, we got a guy who had flown 74's, and he owned a glider and a Cessna 170. He upgraded as soon as he could figure out the systems.