Generally agree with you but piloting a ST starship is different from piloting an airliner, main thing being that the starship is stable in space. Like you can cut all power to engines completely and it isn’t going to fall into a planet or star, other than during specfic maneuvers. There’s also the rest of the bridge crew present to take over if something comes up that he couldn’t handle. I see it as more equivalent to letting a kid take the helm on an ocean ship. Still some potential for it to go wrong, but if the kid isn’t a little shit wanting to see what happens if he yanks the wheel, it’ll probably be fine.
Between the shields and deflector array, anything that could pose a threat would likely be picked up by the sensors long before it was close. Other than a cloaked ship ambushing them, but even then I bet Riker could just bark out “computer execute evasive maneuver alpha and beam Wesley to sick bay. Data, take the helm. Red alert!”
Generally agree with you but piloting a ST starship is different from piloting an airliner, main thing being that the starship is stable in space. Like you can cut all power to engines completely and it isn’t going to fall into a planet or star, other than during specfic maneuvers. There’s also the rest of the bridge crew present to take over if something comes up that he couldn’t handle. I see it as more equivalent to letting a kid take the helm on an ocean ship. Still some potential for it to go wrong, but if the kid isn’t a little shit wanting to see what happens if he yanks the wheel, it’ll probably be fine.
Between the shields and deflector array, anything that could pose a threat would likely be picked up by the sensors long before it was close. Other than a cloaked ship ambushing them, but even then I bet Riker could just bark out “computer execute evasive maneuver alpha and beam Wesley to sick bay. Data, take the helm. Red alert!”