Originally Posted by
Xdashdriver
You're missing the actual contract language:
"7. The provisions of E.1. above may be waived at the discretion of the Company as long as the requirements of B.1., of this section are met."
Although the company CAN waive everything but the FAR requirements, it is not currently doing so, therefore the captain qualification worksheet on the pilot lounge. The worksheet was obviously updated after the new rules because it references them.
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^^^exactly
Sample calculation--let's say you came in with:
250 hrs multi-PIC
0 hours prior 121 SIC
0 hours 135(k) turbine PIC or military PIC
...then, you fly 1,000 hours SIC for Mesa.
Per the bare minimum updated FARs (121.436), you essentially just need your ATP + 1,000 hours SIC/PIC in 121 ops. Military turb PIC & 135(k) turbine PIC (>19 seats) counts towards your 1,000 hours.
However, per Mesa's CBA (as currently enforced by mgmt/union) you need 250 more hours PIC (or 500 more hours SIC).
I for one am overwhelmingly in favor of this requirement, and I think they should be way more restrictive (Mesa's reqs are less restrictive than any regional I am aware of). You have absolutely zero business being in command of an airliner with only 1,000 hours of 121 time and nothing else but 1,500 hours in a prop plane/CFIing. You haven't had your ass handed to you enough times, and you haven't had enough time to really, truly develop the instincts/self-knowledge required to be in that seat.
And honestly, if you think you're ready to be a Captain on an EJet/700/900 after 1 year of flying 121--with no other similar experience whatsoever--you're just going to hurt your career in the long-run. Taking command at that level of experience puts you at a much higher risk of accidents, incidents, and violations. How are you going to take the controls from a new hire FO when the plane slips over to the edge of the runway in a 35 knot xwind gust--with any authority--when you're basically still a new hire yourself? And have never landed in a 35 knot crosswind in a jet yourself?
Put a guy on reserve in PHX for 1-year (ppl are holding it out of new hire now), throw him in a left seat exactly 1,000 hours later, and he's done what? Maybe 1 landing on a contaminated runway? Maybe 3-5 approaches at the end of a max FDP in blowing snow at 1600 RVR at night? Maybe a handful of diversions/holds where he actually had to pay attention to his fuel status? How many go-arounds/real emergency situations has he ecountered? One? Zero?
I'm terrified of the current experience level at which Mesa allows people to upgrade--let's not go any lower.