2cocky (!empty($user->lang['WROTE'])) ? $user->lang['WROTE'] : ucwords(strtolower(str_replace('_', ' ', 'WROTE'))):
OK I'm not sure if this works for everyone since I have a lot of little bugs that came with my character transfer.
Anyways I recently remastered pilot, and I did the old trick of outfitting a low-level ship with high level parts to make the regrind so much quicker. I also left all of my old ships alone, including my advanced X-wing with all RE'd high-end parts since I was told that they would remain in their place while I grinded.
Anyways by pure accident and force of habit, I clicked on my Adv X-Wing to launch into space while i was still at tier 2, and much to my delight it worked. Also my droid commands worked just like I had never dropped pilot. So needless to say my remaining grind was done in about 8 hours.
So if anyone wants to test this to see if it works for everyone, just do the following: Leave your current high-end ship in your datapad, drop pilot and begin the regrind, then launch into space with your old ship. If it works, then there's a nice little sploit that you can use in space.
You're right in your assumption that this doesn't work for everyone, but it can work in different ways.
I've mastered all the pilot squadrons and settled on Rebel, however I can still fly all the non-master freelance ships I have in my datapad from the start of a new squadron. This only seems to work with my post-NGE characters, doesn't work with my Pre-NGE characters.