[QUOTE=own nav;2260694]While I'm doing my best to stay out of the conversation (I like it when Jetlife and others bring up good valid points for discussion without getting nasty), I must say there is a missing point here.

That is, AMF has changed their pay structure to promote long term employment. While, yes, most pilots are eyeing the shiny airlners, and use Regionals and AMF as a stepping stone, there is now a more viable option to stay around longer if you don't see what you like in your options moving on.

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A consideration is that there is currently a pilot shortage. The carriers like AMF will have trouble hiring before the top-tier regionals will. So that is not good for long-term health of the company.

Delta is hiring tons of regional FO's now with zero TPIC time. So it's not as important now as before. We have upgrades at 1,000 hours now; Jet 121 time so you don't need to risk your ticket and life in old equipment like before. With the big 4 retiring thousands of pilots it's not likely that you would have to "stick it out" at a stepping-stone carrier. Even then, for example at my regional we have guys with 2 years on property making 100k+ per year with mainline flight benefits, healthcare, and profit sharing bonuses. I flew turboprops with no autopilot in hard IMC, it makes you a good pilot, I get it. But there are better options now.