Boeing and Airbus are in the business to sell airplanes - lots of airplanes. Development and Certification costs demand huge sales numbers. As you have said, the bill for the A380 debacle must be biblical.
But its time that Regulators world wide get together and set a uniform minimum standard of pilot performance. I don't really care if the American, Canadian, British or German standard is used (or a combination of all) to set the base line but the status-quo left untouched is going to lead to a lot more death.
For your consideration:
1: Garuda Indonesia Flight 200 (GA200/GIA 200) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight of a Boeing 737-400 operated by Garuda Indonesia between Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia.[1] The aircraft overran the runway, crashed into a rice field and burst into flames while landing at Adisutjipto International Airport on 7 March 2007.
-The Captain attempted to land the airplane at 220 knots - more than 80 knots fast. When his First Officer asked him to go around, all the Captain could say was "landing checklist complete, right?"
2: Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was a scheduled transpacific passenger flight from Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, to San Francisco International Airport in the United States. On the morning of 6 July 2013, the Boeing 777-200ER crashed on final.
- Of the claimed more that 20000 flying hours between the 2 pilots, neither had ever hand flown a visual approach to a landing. The weather was clear and the winds were light.
3: Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Indonesia AirAsia – an AirAsia Group affiliate – from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. On 28 December 2014, the Airbus A320 flying the route crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 162 people on board.
- A snag not critical to safety lead the Captain to try an unapproved circuit breaker reset. His action led to the loss of all automation and neither pilot had the basic operating skills to prevent a total loss of the aircraft and its contents.
4: TransAsia Airways Flight 235 was a TransAsia Airways domestic flight from Taipei to Kinmen (Quemoy), Republic of China. On 4 February 2015, the aircraft serving the flight, a ten-month-old ATR 72-600, crashed into the Keelung River shortly after takeoff.
- After an engine failure the Captain disengaged the autopilot and shutdown the healthy engine. Post accident tests proved that had he left the autopilot engaged and done nothing, the airplane would have flown safely.
I didn't even mention Air France 447 but these are only a few examples of unconscionable incompetence. For those not yet convinced, I can list dozens more. I for one, cannot understand the strange inner-confidence that must exist in these individuals that allows them to take an airplane into the air. The manufactures along with the training organizations they contract are overdue for a butt-kicking. What they are turning out in the interest of selling a larger fleet of jets, just ain't making the grade.