I will not argue with GliderCFI or Islandhopper (not sure who he actually is..) but I went to MTSU, and if I had not already been hired I would have had all the "requirements" for the bridge program. I was hired with just shy of 1000 with 240 multi. My sim partner had over 1500 hours and an ATP rating- he was "asked to leave" at sim #3 because it was just too much for him (more or less multitasking and situational awareness). There was another guy in my class with over 2500 hours with almost 2000 hours in lears that left around sim #7- I wasn't his partner but supposedly the automation was more than he could handle. In my opinion the difference between 250 hours and 1250 hours (about what I have now) isn't necessarily the ability to actually fly, or have situational awareness, or manipulate the FMS- it is experience to know what to do when you realize (with situational awareness) that there is something that needs to be done NOW so you don't get into a "situation" later. There were plently of low-timers in my class that got through the schoolhouse fine- we all learned the same stuff, but once they got to the line were they as much of an asset to the CA's they were flying with compared to someone who had more flight experience? I think that is the case. Flying glass is significantly easier (scan=look straight) and anyone under age 30 at this point in the game can deal with learning an FMS. I think my smartphone is more complicated than an FMS to learn! In my opinion the 2 hardest things to do in the jet are 1.) A VISUAL approach (dont do them often, requires a ton more mental planning and prep) and 2.) being a crew and leaving the CFI ticket in the back pocket- no matter if you have 500 or 2500 hours- the CA will teach you something whether he realizes it or not. Especially if he is a guy that has thousands of hours in the plane. My last trip I flew with a Checkairman and I learned a TON. He showed me a lot of little quirks and rules of thumb that made the job much easier. I have almost 300 hours in the CRJ and every flight I learn something new, but its not the basics that he (the checkairman) said he is teaching to new guys. IOE is to acclimate someone from a training to a real world environment, not to give basic instruction while acclimating someone at M.74. So I am not for or against bridge programs, I feel 9E's HR dept has their priorities in reverse order- they should go for the qualified apps, then if they are still short they should go to bridge programs. There are plenty of guys with 250 hours that will do better than a 1200 hour guy, but more times than not a 1200 hour guy will be a much better asset to the cockpit. Experience is priceless, thats why on a resume the focal point is flight time- not age, GPA, or any other differentiating detail. Talk about thread drift...

Yea- so XJ gets 15, we MAY be able to staff the 124 we are left with, and 9E lost them due to a contract deadline- a good contract would be nice to get!