Better, more focused training and disciplined procedures can help the pros overcome reduced experience. Here’s what you can learn from them.

By Frank Bowlin

Flight time and experience requirements are dropping nearly everywhere pilots are being hired. Some airlines will now hire pilots and put them in the right seat of a jet with no more than a commercial multi-engine ticket and the couple hundred hours required to get it.

Critics think this will cause airplanes to fall out of the sky. Others claim improved training and rigorous attention to procedures makes the difference. Let’s take a look at both sides of that debate, and see what lessons we can learn from that to improve our own flying. …