Originally Posted by ForeverFO

JetDoc - I wish you good luck, you are walking a path that thousands of guys have walked previously. That said, the 250 hour FO in the right seat of an RJ - based upon a lot of conversation with CA's and others intimately involved... In many if not most cases, they were viewed almost as a liability rather than an asset to the captain. "It'd be easier to do this solo" was a common comment.

Captains were reduced to not only being PIC in demanding conditions, they were also doing CFI duties for free; correcting, monitoring, and mentoring the noob. A certain amount of mentoring is inevitable, but an FO should not be a burden to the CA.

I think the 1,500 ATP rule is a bit arbitrary, and could be lowered, with caveats. Perhaps some sort of "experience" algorithm could be formulated. A guy hauling boxes in night IFR all over the country has a superior experience level to the same number of hours in a 172 beating up a pattern.

So there's got to be a line somewhere. For now and the immediate future, it's the ATP rule. Again, good luck.