My comment is to his assertion that all pilots should spend 1000 hours as a CFI. And yes I was hired and worked at a regional carrier in 2007. There were a few....(two that I actually 100% know of) that had less than 500 hours in the classes around mine... one was a girl with only about 300 hours and all bought time..... However..... the vast majority of guys/gals hired had significantly more. The company I worked for put 40 of us in class that day...and the low time pilot was 900 hours.. high time just shy of 3000....

CAN pilots be trained to fly airliners with only 300 or so hours of flight time ...yes. The military system bears this out that it can be done. The difference is that while in training in the military ( at least in my time ) you where always at risk.... failure to perform on THEIR time line... and you were OUT. Given enough time and money "nearly" anyone can be taught to fly. If you really ever want to have ANY chance of changing this profession there must be REAL barrier's to entry... i.e., not everyone should be a commercial pilot and the weak should be filtered out....problem is in our current system while there are standards the system allows someone as much time to learn something as they want... i mean if you are learning to fly ILS approaches.. and it takes you 20 lessons... thats okay... the difference is that in an ab into program or in the military you are on very strict curriculum's that require you to meet standards not just at check rides but all along the way. SOLO? 8-10 flights....not 12...13... or 20....or 30.... Listen military pilots are simply trained differently... in the end we are all equal down the line. And yes...weak ones slip thru in the military as well... but they are (or were) very few in total.

Don't take this as a MIL vs CIV debate. Its not... I believe we are trained differently and 2-3,000 hours down the road depending on many factors... its all evened out. I know I am in the minority but I believe a well run, ab into program for US airlines could be a good thing. It would have to be on structured course programs that require progression on a known timeline and deviation from that timeline would have to have the possibility of failure attached. NO guarantees... (oh if you fail out ... you owe nothing). I am aware this is not a popular idea....but it might should be as the current system is not going to cut it over the years to come.