Some will be, yes. Is being captain as soon as possible the objective of the average pilot? I don't know the answer but I suspect that after the last decade some will. I also think many aspire to be in the top half or third of the seniority group for a variety of reasons. Commutes, vacations of choice, schedule, ability to benefit from premium pay etc.

The forth stripe is not the holy grail it used to be. There are many iterations of this job that allow all types of schedule and earnings. Most know how bad the bottom in the category have it. Add to that the migration of the trip mix to longer and less variety of trips and schedule becomes valuable. Most pilots at Delta have checked the pilot in command box long before they were hired.

My point is that the 14 month captain is not the norm and definitely not surprising. The Egypt air captain that sadly was involved in the latest incident was reported to be highly experienced having 6200 hours and over 2000 in type. That's about the experience of our 14 month captains. Not at all inadequate but low by Delta standards. In 2007 and 2008 you needed 7000+ to get hired and other big airplane experience or an advanced degree or chief pilot or instructor/check airman experience. Times change. The new captains probably aren't new captains at all, just new to Delta captains.

The characterization that the median captain will have less than 10 years is just plain wrong and either is stated for political purpose or is just naïve and uninformed. The pilots on the front of the wave will have spectacular careers but those leading the wave always do. Most will wait the few more years to maintain some sense of normal schedule.

I'm not denying the benefit of upcoming retirements but to say we will all be captains shortly and that that will cure all is ridiculous. Fire away.