You should also mention that the hiring requirements to get looked at by Piedmont in 95/96 were astonishing. They wanted 2500 TT and over 500 ME, plus a lunar landing. They had the best contract in the commuters - that, in addition to the fact that they didn't participate in PFT - made them look like the cream of the crop. Funny how times change huh?

We should also bring up that the minimums to participate in PFT were 1500TT and 200ME!! So all those people who are up in arms about the ATP requirement that exists today should be reminded that these are not new minimums. They existed in the mid-90s when there were a surplus of pilots and didn't come down to the 200/300 hour RJ minimums we saw over the last decade until the majors started hiring a ton in 1999 - 2001.