Yes, really. I'm glad you were one of the exceptions, but aspiring airline/corporate pilots who want to leave the CFI track need to be aware that they cannot expect that kind of flying alone to keep their head in the game for the next step.
OK so lets do a comparison. CFI's at my first flight school and me. CFI during primary buzzing around in uncontrolled airspace teaching some newby how to fly. Very challenging, I am sure it is taxing, and you have to know what you are doing but mostly you are observing and correcting while occasionally grabbing the controls and demonstrating. Instrument- more of the same but occasionally get to go into the big bad class C that is Myrtle Beach for an approach or two. Again, I am sure you have to be up on your instrument rules and flying techniques and I am sure it is challenging, but I don't recall my instructor flying the aircraft very often. He mostly watched me and gave me helpful pointers and tips.
Now on to mapping. I was flying inside the Washington DC ADIZ shortly after Sept. 11. I learned a whole lot about coordination with ATC and other govt. agencies. I was flying grids that required +/- 100 feet on altitude, no more than 5 degrees bank or pitch, +/- 300 feet laterally from centerline and speed within +/- 15 knots. All the while running the mapping computer, talking to ATC, fighting turbulence, and avoiding sensitive areas. I did this in DC, Chicago, NYC, Dallas, Tampa, Denver, and a few other class B airspaces. I was in the system pretty much every day and if I got to map in uncontrolled airspace it felt like a vacation. I got to fly IMC approaches into and out of class B and became intimately familiar with SID's and STAR's. I can guarantee you my instructor never flew either until he went to a regional. I also flew from coast to coast and crossed the rockies several times. How many times do you reckon my flight instructor got to plan an across the continent cross country? I think the farthest he ever got from home base was about 300 miles.
I am not trying to slam instructing, but I am going to defend other ways. I think instructing can be very educational and good experience. However I will never accept that it is the only or even the best way to get that experience. Landcare isn't buzzing around with a camera out the window. It requires skill and good piloting. I learned a lot at Landcare that I wouldn't have otherwise. Being hired in 2001 I was there a lot longer than I had planned but I wouldn't do otherwise. I made a good living, made some great friends (even though I don't keep in touch as much as I should), and I got to see pretty much the entire country at 6000 feet and 120 knots. Not a bad way to go.