New hire at Pinnacle here. I agree that they've had many problems in the past, but some of that goes with going from saabs to all jets 5 years ago and being the fastest growing regional in the nation. They've also made over 40 million in the first 6 months of this year and were second the past 2 years in profit margin among regionals. This year Pinnacle is almost a lock for first. They are hiring great pilots now, though I agree that in the past some have been sub-standard. It is true that they have recieved their last CRJ from NW for a while, but the company will be finished with its new OPS certificate in October of 06 and are attempting to aquire either the crj 700 & 900 or the 70 & 100 seat ERJ. As far as upgrade time currently goes, once you have captain mins, you upgrade if you want to. Hope this helps!