Originally Posted by
BE24pilot
You guys are so funny! If you think that a 121 pilot at a major or a regional has any different job then you are just lying to yourself. If your airline has a good training program, and a good recurrent program than an FO can easily do the same Job. A regional pilot at 9E, SKW, Mesa, ECT is performing the same function in a CRJ 900 as he does in a 737 or and MD80. We have all been in each others jump seats and it is no secret what the job entails. There are great pilots, good pilots, and bad pilots at every airline. Have confidence in your training program, and your check airmen. If you don't think your company is capable of hiring bright capable pilots, than maybe it is not as great of a place to be as you think. Don't forget, the regionals provide 50% of the domestic lift in this country, and in my years as a regional FO, I was yet to see a mainline pilot too worried about the capabilities of the Capt and FO not to get on to commute or travel with his family for vacation. Stop fighting each other, and start figuring out a way to work together to make more money and have a better QOL. Get your pensions back, get your days off back. Do it before people realize that they can accomplish the same goals with foreign pilots or drones.
This.
I get to evaluate both "regional" and "major" airlines crews, but to the FAA, they are all the same, all "121s". They are more alike than different and for the most part, any decent size "regional" operates just like a "major", in terms of procedures and flying. There's nothing different when we step onto a 737 vs. a CRJ, nor should there be.
I'm not denying that there might be a pilot with less experience in the CRJ cockpit, or that a smaller regional airline with less resources and simpler equipment may not be "exactly" the same, but by and large what I described in the first paragraph is the way things are and as we move forward and data collection and oversight continue to become more efficient, they will only move closer to the same level.