There is no time obligation to instruct at ATP. The RJ program costs $2000. If you came off of the street and took it, it costs $6000. Personally, I am trying to avoid that program. And talking about hiring low time guys. Okay, so what is the difference between 500hrs and 1000hrs. Not much, you get to certain learning plateau as an instructor, then after that, it is just laps around the pattern, maneuvers, or straight and level cross country. Flying is not hard, and if someone can grasp flying a jet at 500 or 1000 hours, who cares. I think alot of people are upset because they didn't go somewhere like ATP and get a bunch of multi time and instruct and get even more. I don't totally agree with everything they do. It is not hard to fly a jet, just because it moves faster, doesn't mean squat. I was an NFO, and I challenge those guys out there with there 1000s of hours of autopilot jet time and see if they could handle a low level flight at 500' AGL going 300 kts. I guarantee you that you couldn't do that, unless of course they are prior military. What I don't agree with is hiring 18 year olds to fly jets. They are not mature enough and I don't think they could handle the stress if something did happen, they are just kids.