Yeah really, it's a textbook Corporate America solution to a complex psychiatric problem that lead someone to do such an awful thing. We'll solve it by giving them a test made by a bunch of nerds that have never seen the outside of a classroom to make sure they aren't suicidal... but only after they've already been flying our passengers for 5 to 10 years. It's not like there are any test prep programs or gouges out there that everyone uses to prepare for the personality assessment (or since it's done online at home you can just have someone else that might be more adept at giving the correct answers take it for you), and the whole rest of the interview, or anything like that.

It's just a way to reduce the number of possible candidates to manageable level for interviews because they have too many applications for the amount of spots they actually need to fill. The same goes for the mandates for a vaccine that has been proven to be useless and probably dangerous. A further way to lighten the pile of applications. Why do very few regionals have one? If the "shortage" actually gets serious, everyone who meets the minimum criteria will be offered an interview at least, and decisions will be made at the actual interview, and all the cog tests and all that non-sense will go away. Lets face it, if someone can fly a CRJ-900 competently as PIC, they can probably handle a 737 or A320.