Originally Posted by
fireman0174
Ridiculous. The day a pilot thinks that increased experience will not improve safety, is the day he/she should hang it up.
To the day I retired I was always learning and that helped me be a better and safer pilot for the next flight.
I will also freely admit that on more than one occasion my experience learning curve increased when I said to myself "Hey dummy, don't ever do that again!".
Absolutely right. I've done IOE on lots of guys with way more than 1500 hours, and most of them are good with the airplane (some superb) but they aren't in the position of having seen most of it before. The level of comfort when in tense situations is much lower than it would be when the same individual has already "been there". Every time you go through an unusual or tight situation, it benefits your decision making ability.