That's correct, the Colgan FO was around 1500 hours I believe and the captain had over 4000. It is just odd to me that many people on these forums who were hired with over 1000 hours of total time seem to think they are in a different league than a 400 hour pilot. Unless you were military trained or got into a high performance or challenging aircraft it just simply isn't true. You may be able to short field land a cessna a bit better than the 400 hour pilot but that doens't mean jack.

I agree that we need a standard, but the main reason why I want that is so we reduce the supply of pilots and wages increase. From a safety aspect, I think requiring everyone to have an ATP is a good start and a good law. It won't completely fix the issue but will help weed out some of the guys who would otherwise slip through the cracks.

The problem with the logic in my opinion, is that hours are not a good way to show ability or true experience. That is the reason you have 1500 hour KC-10 captains in the military.