"It's the training and the professional attitudes throughout the pilot group that make it safe, not what kind of airplane you flew or for how long before you got there."

So experience means nothing? I don't know where to draw the line but I'd say 250 hours doesn't cut it. Hard work, a good attitude, and a prior training will get your through ground school and the sims. It's what comes after that for a highly trained 250 hour guy that bothers me. It doesn't seem right that a Captain should have to be a baby sitter. Yeah, they do it in Europe but I hear the screening and standards are higher. They do it in the military, too. I KNOW the screening and standards are higher.

"all 121 carriers have stringent training programs and none of them are afraid of washing out people who can't cut it"

I don't know, man. To me, that's in the eye of the beholder. Even at the major level, I see it as min standards to kick you out the door. Yeah, it's stringent, but I still think it's min standards to keep costs as low as possible and get your out on the line. The way I see it, having some experience fills in the blanks that you won't see in training environment. I see a lot of difference between ground school/sims and what happens in the real world. Experience and background fills in the blanks on the real world stuff. The 250 hour guy doesn't have that to fall back on.