I don't know how someone could reach 1500 hours and not be competent in an airplane. Maybe they're not Chuck Yeager, but surely they're capable of flying an RJ...

I'll grant you a very small percentage (~1%) of those people might not be, but their reaching 1500 is probably a fluke more than anything (i.e. bummed around in dad's Cessna 152 in perfect VFR all the time).