[pfflier]

Yes it's true military flying is much different and it can involve flying a damaged or marginalized airplane that civil pilots rarely encounter.

I also think going into the mix is that pilots, in general, are becoming more systems managers and less aviators.

The Air France crash, years ago in the Atlantic, was a classic demonstration of that. The crew didn't recognize or know they had to fly out of a stall that their automated systems created with a frozen pitot tube.

[dfwgator]

Planes can pretty much fly themselves, but the pilot is there for when things go wrong.

[TalBlack]

I also think going into the mix is that pilots, in general, are becoming more systems managers and less aviators.

Bingo. How much of what used to be the “work” of a flight that is thrown off to software is scary.