We appreciate the 1500 hour rule for what it did to our pay and rest regs, but not much else.
But then again, it made the industry starting pay based almost entirely on hiring standards. I'm not sure that's a healthy way of doing things long-term.
The general public thinks our industry is safer because the FO flew a 172 around the pattern 7,000 more times.
My opinion is that a 500 pilot can learn to fly an RJ just as well as a 1500 hour pilot.