Originally Posted by sandrich

What I can see happening is a further delay of a finalized ruling. All Congress said was that by Aug 2013, all 121 pilots need an ATP. There's nothing that says that the FAA absolutely has to have a change in by that date. They're just doing it as a way around this new requirement (I may be wrong on this?) What if the paperwork hits a speedbump in the White House, and doesn't come out on Aug 1st... Joe Shmoe with his 1400tt gets fired. One month later, a final ruling comes out (1000tt with a degree, whatever it may be), and Joe realizes he could have kept his job the entire time...

While I do agree that this rule will obviously boost the level of experience for a regional FO, I think some credit is due for the KIND of experience. Consider Joe Shmoe above:

Joe- 121 regional FO, 1400tt (900 hours on-the-job, turbine, people in the back experience shooting approaches in crap weather into busy airports)

Billy- instructor at a flight school, 1500tt doing steep turns over farm fields in Cessnas, just got his ATP

Joe gets fired and Billy gets his "dream" job....how does this make things safer? It will have an obvious positive effect 2 years down the road, but what about in the short term? Take someone who's been "in the suck" for at least a year and give his job to someone who's been doing Intro/Discovery flights for the past three... The big picture makes sense to me, but this part doesn't...