Originally Posted by sarcasticspasti
Let's face it, Skywest is considered one of the best. Therefore, their pile of applications is tall and they can afford to pick and choose. ASA's near term future is still cloudy. Nobody knows how the buyout will affect the pilot group. And until they do, fewer people are going to be sending them applications and they are going to go with lower minimums.
That being said, all 121 carriers have stringent training programs and none of them are afraid of washing out people who can't cut it. Even with all of the low time pilots getting hired over the last ten years and ab-initio programs having been standard in Europe for even longer, the US and European safety rates are still remarkable. The regionals are as safe or safer than the majors since the application of 121 standards across the board, low time pilots or not. 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.
PREOFESSIONAL ATTITUDES???? I suspect you don't work in the regional world??? Ever hear about a mainline bus or 737 stalling out in cruise/climb in the FLs because the crew is reading USA Today? Nope, me neither....
Well it happens ALL THE TIME at the regional level....usually results in 4,000-10,000 altitude loss. In RSVM land that's TEN opportunities for loss of sep...not to mention the zero-g roller-coaster ride for the pax.
The ONLY safety advantage the RJ's have is the latest technology...lots of mainline planes are still on steam gauges. The airplane actually does make a difference...
The amount of flight time before you got there is EXTREMELY significant...the majority of the benefit occurs in the first 1000-2000 hours. After 2000 or so the value of additional hours tapers off somewhat. But 300 hour pilots...the NTSB statistics tell the story.
Don't even come on here and try to give some 23 year old PFT slacker with 120 hours PIC and a backpack the benefit of a "professional attitude".