Originally Posted by
USMCFLYR
You point to the Colgan crew (the captain specifically) and state that he had well over 1500 hrs. He did - but a point to be made is where did he get his hours? Wasn't he one of these early to an airline cockpit guys (and wasn't the FO too?) Maybe one of many things that might have made a difference would have been would have been some real world experiences PRIOR to becoming an airline pilot.
I actually subscribe to this theory. People who were trained in a canned curriculum (some of which do not allow students or instructors to ever enter IMC) and then went directly to the right seat of an airliner never had the opportunity to kill or scare themselves in general (or military) aviation. They had essentially never had the opportunity to be fully responsible for a flight until they were released from IOE after upgrade...all or almost all of their previous flights were as SIC, dual received, or under the supervision of a CFI (even when doing student solos).
1500 hours means there's a high probability that airline new-hires will already have significant PIC experience.