That's exactly why I posted the article, and thanks for asking the question. Obviously posting this article here is "preaching to the choir", I know everyone flying the line is a convert. For those with the dream of flying and a case of shiny jet syndrome, hearing the reality of a regional airline F/O job often sounds like complaining. I often hear from new pilots that somehow it will be different for them.

A startling statistic from the article was the proliferation of regional pilot jobs during the past decade. A tripling of regional jobs since 2001 means that mainline jobs are being outsourced and the traditional "pay your dues" at a commuter airline and go to a major path no longer exists. Regional upgrade times will slow to a crawl as there are less mainline jobs to jump to. Age 65 retirements will help the flow a little, but nothing on the order of how it used to be.

So again, the question is what are we doing about it?