Originally Posted by
LowerLoon185
Maybe I’m reading you wrong, but are you saying that the guy in the right seat of an RJ in his first real paying flying job hauling people isn’t on a learning curve and gaining valuable experience? Or the guy to his left, having just crossed the 1000 hour 121 mark in his first captain job isn’t learning or gaining experience? I’d say both those guys should be drinking from a firehose (that’s a good thing).
Contrast that with a SWA 8-year FO that had 2500 hours of jet PIC time in the air force before he got his now 8000 hours at a major; you think the market is going to compensate those FOs the same? Again, I may be misreading you but professionals get compensated largely based on breadth of experience and history of demonstrated performance.
What is “demonstrated performance”? Either you meet ATP standards or you don’t. 5000 TPIC doesn’t mean you’re a great captain that always shows up on time and does whatever is needed to provide excellent service, it means they’ve gone 5000 hours without losing their license. Without access to performance data and such you really can’t judge whether one pilot is better or more qualified than another simply based on total time. I know plenty of 10,000 hour plus jackwagons that milk the clock and can barely land to save their life.