[vunderba]

Yep. OP fell into the classic trap of making generalizations across two COMPLETELY different fields despite only having knowledge in one of them. I got my PPL nearly a decade ago (obv a far cry from ATP but still) and it's ludicrous to try to compare the skill sets of computer science to piloting.

[dghlsakjg]

That's it. Piloting isn't easy, and you do have to study a lot, but it is rote memorization for the most part.

That is a completely different kind of thing than the kind of thinking that we do in programming. One isn't better or easier than the other, just different.