"Cohen said the number is arbitrary, especially when one considers the aircraft they will have to fly to get those hours will not be comparable to the kind of aircraft commercial pilots will need to be flying.

His reasoning: why aren’t pilots ready at 1,499 hours, when they are at 1,501?

“What’s the difference across the line?” he asked."

This is so true, just an arbitrary line in the the sand.... But I really wish they would stop calling it the "1500 hour rule" when in actually it's the asinine 500 hours of cross country that is jamming people up...

Thanks Scottm for actually backing up your post with facts...