Originally Posted by VanDriver208

Hold on for a minute there....most of those involved weren't trying to cheat the system by upgrading without the required time. Many were prior 135 guys that came from a scheduled operation. They submitted their upgrade sheet and the company accepted that time as being applicable for upgrade based off the upgrade worksheet in use at that time. After the tail strike incident the FAA dug pretty deep into all recent upgrades, and upon review of the new rules per Part 117 they determined that those candidates did not meet the requirements. Is it embarrassing? Yes. Was it frustrating for those involved? Yes! But to insinuate that those guys should be fired for a paperwork error after successfully completing an 121 approved upgrade program is a bit of a stretch....don't you think? For the record....the guy who had the tail strike wasn't egregiously shy of the 1000 hours required. Like the others, he had submitted his upgrade worksheet and it was approved. After the incident the FAA examined his times and found him to be approximately 15 hours short due to ferry flights that had been conducted under Part 91. Thats essentially what started the domino effect. And don't forget, before people start the whole "1000 hours 121, not experienced enough to be a Captain" rant, prior to the 117 rules taking effect all you needed to be a Captain in a 121 operation was an ATP and a PIC type. So guys with 1501 hours were upgrading not all that long ago at various operators.