As long as we are talking about training and experience, consider this. Most pilots at foreign airlines come from intense military style ab initio training programs run by the airline itself. They learn their airline's procedures and policies from day one. In the end they are flying copilot on a B737 or A319 with barely 500 hours. That is not so different than a nugget pilot in the Navy. With the exception of some Asian countries where culture is not condusive to good CRM or mentoring, the safety records of companies that use ab initio training is very good. That is why I say it is more about the training. Military pilots get paid to do far more than just fly from point A to point B. That makes their job more challenging and in the end, perhaps better stick and rudder guys. An airline pilots ONLY job is moving from point A to point B. We don't get paid for putting bombs on target, shutting down an IAD or putting a sling load down on the deck of a pitching ship. Airline pilots are paid solely for their judgment. Smooth landings mean nothing but bragging rights. On time performance is virtually out of the flight crews hands these days. Airline pilots are paid to decide whether or not to make the approach into weather, where he should divert, if the police need to meet the airplane on arrival, what to do with the suspicious device found in the lav, whether to land short of a destination because of a sick passenger, how to deal with the flight attendant cat fight, etc. Absolutely non of that has anything to do with monkey skills. I dare say, the judgement of NFOs have saved many an aircrew and they are not even pilots. Do military guys have the requisite judgment to do the job, certainly. But so do most civilian sourced guys that may have had to deal with the same sort of problems before they went to United. Judgment is exclusive of flight time. Experience can certainly inform judgment, but it is not necessary and experiences can be shared. That is why having a mix a guys in the airline, civilian from commuters, air farce heavy guys, civilians from third tier overseas freight operations, Navy tacair and even army helo drivers is so important.
In the Colgan mishap the weather sucked and procedures and known techniques were not followed. How many hours does it take to know the weather was bad, and the approach wasn't being flown accurately or procedure were not being followed? The co-pilot had all the experience she needed to know those things. She lacked judgment and assertiveness. The Captain was even more handicapped. In any case, it had nothing to do with hours. It is about judgment. Whether military or civilian, some guys some times make a bad judgment call. That is when safety is compromised. Not when a 1800 hour civilian sourced pilot steps onto the flight deck.
