Airplanes are not like horses:They don't sense the experience of the rider.

And no one bestows great reverence on an older person who has been DRIVING A CAR, accident-free for many years (save for the odd insurance agent).

A certain number of flight hours, conducting a certain type of operation IS important. Flight Instructing for enough hours to become very skilled at it is important. So is flying enough to become a skilled aerial applicator or Part 135 Captain or seaplane pilot.

It take about 1000 hours in the FO seat of any of our airliners just to become proficient - in THAT SEAT!

1000 hours is barely enough flight time to get really proficient at any one thing.