Originally Posted by
kfahmi
...the only realistic way for non-military pilots to get the required experience is to tough it out at a regional for a decade, perhaps more.
Just in case you're wondering...the required experience for airline pilots are all exactly the same regardless of equipment. There is no difference in the skill or experience needed to be the first officer of a Boeing 777 or an Embraer 145.
Originally Posted by
kfahmi
How else do you expect people to earn that coveted 1,000 hours of turbine PIC? Sure, there's corporate (which is a more difficult game to get into, and can involve a lot fewer flying hours per year if you're doing Pt. 91 operations). But what else is there, really?
1000 hours turbine? There is no such requirement. If there was it would be a massive chicken or the egg dilemma.
Corporate jobs generally do have higher experience requirements than any airline because they must answer to the highest authority of all, the insurance company, to which airlines are exempted.
Originally Posted by
kfahmi
However, given that the majors have more applicants than they can possibly handle...
That is the only (artificially created) reason why mainline can post artificial requirements.
The only reason major airlines hire from regional airlines is because they are there. It is in the mainline's best interest to encourage pilots to spend the first ten or fifteen years of their career there until they are a bit older. It's just a B scale for mainline. They can then hire older pilots who will likely not be there long enough to spend much time on twenty year pay (if they ever get there at all).
The regional B scale pay structure allows mainline to save massive amounts of money in pilot pay. This is why I keep saying that the regional airline system is bringing all pilot pay down, including mainline. That is why I spend time in these forums because talking to 20 year mainline veterans is like talking to a brick wall.