You're full of Bull****!! For a couple of hours, the RecPilot just
might fly his toy a bit better than the airline pilot, but I would
just like to see a RecPilot even attempt a takeoff in an Airbus.

A good friend of mine flew an Airbus. Based on what he said, you're
right - the very high time rec pilot will have a hard time with it.
It's more suited to kids who spend a lot of time playing flight
simulator.

The high time rec pilot winds up doing different things - like shooting
an ILS to mins at night, in an airplane he only got into that morning,
with no operative directional gyro and no compass light (thus no
heading indication at all) - or some equivalent mess. Single pilot.
Usually before he hits 2000 hours. I know lots of airline guys at 2000
hours, mostly in the right seat of the regionals, and I can't think of
one who could pull something like that off.

By the time they hit 10,000 hours it's a different story - they're
usually better than the 2000 hour rec pilot, having gotten good through
sheer repetition - but the rare 10,000 hour rec pilot you see is truly
amazing, head and shoulders above the average 10,000 hour airline guy.
I was fortunate enough to learn from one. He taught me to fly an
aerobatic biplane in 90 minutes. The 10,000 hour airline guy who tried
before him only succeeded in scaring me.

Michael