These days? Right. I'm sure the "commuter" pilot feed (uh 250 hour wonders?) in the 90s and 2000s was way better and only the highest caliber applicants ever found the right seat in a turboprop, and the best of the best got to one day fly in a jet. The rest got relegated to desk jobs. I just can't believe how many regional crashes we are having these days because of all the idiots flowing thru the doors here who barely have 1500 hours. Not.

Dude, it is no different. New pilots are new pilots. There were plenty of idiots in the industry when you started, still are, and always will be. This isn't harvard business school or nasa we are talking about here. Most people who want in this industry can get in. And seniority will dictate they will probably be in the left seat one day. But don't tell me back in the day when you came in the industry the standards and quality of people becoming pilots was any better, because that's false.