As a pilot I've been following this shocking airliner crash at SFO very closely. I'd like to share an article I just received written by a US captain who trained Korean pilots. Disclaimer: I have not verified the authenticity of this content, but have no reason to believe it's fictious. After I retired from UAL as a Standards Captain on the-400, I got a job as a simulator instructor working for Alteon (a Boeing subsidiary) at Asiana. When I first got there, I was shocked and surprised by the lack of basic piloting skills shown by most of the pilots. It is not a normal situation with normal progression from new hire, right seat, left seat taking a decade or two. One big difference is that ex-Military pilots are given super-seniority and progress to the left seat much faster. Compared to the US, they also upgrade fairly rapidly because of the phenomenal growth by all Asian air carriers. By the way, after about six months at Asiana, I was moved over to KAL and found them t...