If a pilot gets paid to fly 1000 hours, or 1,500 hours, that elevates him to an exalted status that paying for it himself, in his own airplane, could never do?

Howzzat again?

If I go spray my own crops for 1000 hours, I'm a lesser human being than if I flew someone else's airplane, and they paid me?

If I go land on a sand beach or in a river and fish, vs. fly some yuppie there to do the fishing, there's an inherent difference? Do the air molecules passing over or under the wing know? Does the wing? Does the runway, or the water, or the crop? Does the FAA care? Does that next employer particularly care if a minimally-qualified pilot who meets the bare minimums shows up with 135 time, 141 time, 137 time, or just plain old 91 time?

I'd certainly say that if someone plans to "time build," they make full use of the time, as opposed to a thousand hours of gazing at the changing fall leaves...what if that person takes aerial photographs and sells them. Is their time less valuable than if they worked for a 135 operator? What if they worked for an operator who does the same thing? Enquiring minds wanna know. Enquiring for a friend.