At one time I was a flight istrutor in ANC and commonly was approached by 747, DC-10, smaller airline and military pilots for a check out in the Cessna 172.

It had been many years since these guys had flown a small plane and they wanted to be able to rent a plane to take themselves on scenic flights.

Most were worse than if the had no prior flight experience at all. Not a singe one of them was able to check out in one flight. Most gave up and the few who did get a sign off had problems.

One DC-10 captain looked at the ANC sectional with amazement. He claimed that he had never seen a VFR chart before and previously didn't know they even had such a silly thing. He was ex-military and claimed to only have 5 hours in a piston plane.

In addition I also worked at several air taxis where retired ex-airline pilots attempted to work as line pilots and quickly gave up much to the relief of everyone else.

I have a friend who is a DC-10 captain and even though he works a full schedule finds it difficult to stay current with 3 landings within 90 days due to the long haul nature of his job. Skills fade over time under those conditions.

You do not need to actually have piloting skills to be an airline pilot.

SkyHigh