Originally Posted by flapshalfspeed

Nah most of the people hired in the first half of 2013 were prior 121 folks with time on CRJs/ERJs/etc. and/or people with a few thousand hours on corporate jets/135 turbine PIC/etc..

Statistically speaking, it is far more likely some old crusty guys will croak in the cockpit of a 777 at mainline than it is for a Mesa new hire to: 1) Pass upgrade/fed ride/IOE and then 2) Do something that compromises safety.

I challenge you to defend your statement (that street upgrades at a regional are "scary") with accident/incident data. Specifically, please post numbers validating your belief that newly upgraded Captains with 1000+ hours of 121 time (who have passed all of the training/checks required) are more prone to accidents/incidents/safety issues than crusty old lifers at regionals or legacies or LCCS.

Also, if you honestly think street upgrades at regionals are "scary" you obviously weren't even in this industry prior to 2008 or so, because that was the norm for a few years at a handful of CRJ operators.

Regardless of any of the above, most of the people hired at Mesa in 2013 had solid prior 121/135/corporate experience--there's only a small handful who only had CFI experience.

The Captain that will kill your family is the one who thinks he knows more than his new hire FO because he's been sitting there for a decade--not the one who just upgraded and obsessively checks all the writeups/performance data/flight planning and pays attention to everything down to the tiniest detail b/c he just got his first shot at the left seat. I know this from experience, ASAP/FOQA/union work and flying the line at three airlines.