Pretty sad if this is the future of commercial flying: No training or talent needed, just push the Auto button and go flying
Except the bi-annual competency check includes the mandatory items that are supposedly meant for us to demonstrate that we are competent to 'save the day' when the unlikely scenario of the mandatory item occurs. How are we supposed to do that if we are not allowed to remain sharp in the basics on a daily basis? This mob are not the only ones to semi-handcuff their flight crews. How can an XAA authorise such philosophies when it is abundantly obvious that when called upon to 'save the day' in a realistic scenario the pilots will be found wanting; and the pax very miffed that they didn't get what they paid for, and in blind faith assumed was included in the ticket?
IMHO there is a 'getting away with it so far' attitude creeping into the industry. When there is a smoking hole the investigators go at it to find the case of the crash. That is often a technical or human error or a combination. It's not often they go deeper into why the humans failed and how to prevent repetition. They did with the tail coming off the Airbus in USA. That was tracked to the airline's training dept and rectified. I'm not so sure that would work if the training was shown to be approved, satisfactory etc. but the lack of currency was a root cause due to philosophy; and it was that which contributed to the crash.