Dudley Henriques writes:

Well.......I'll tell ya; those "buses with wings" require a wee bit of
talent to fly on occasion.

On increasingly rare occasions. Commercial pilots in the U.S. train a great
deal for events that are more and more unlikely to happen. I'm not saying
that's a bad idea, but from an economic standpoint it means that, to an ever
increasing extent, the bulk of their skills aren't really required to do the
job. On a typical, normal, flight, it would be possible for pilots with far
less training to do the work--which in turn means that the job is worth less
money.

Even if the U.S. has not compromised on the standards it imposes for
commercial pilots, other nations are not so strict.

In fact, the survivors of United 232 send a Christmas card to Al Haynes
every year just to tell him that :-))

The exception does not invalidate the rule.