I know, right?!? And now I'll be flying a trip and the FO (with ~1,600 hrs TT and 100 hrs turbine time) complains that none of the three legacies has called yet "and my app has been in for, like, a month." (This actually happened the other day.)

I remember when Amflight wouldn't let you touch one of their basket case Piper Lances without an ATP. (Then again, considering the night cargo runs in the winter over the icy Sierras in a clapped-out piston single that the job required, perhaps they were on to something.) I also remember right after 9/11 when we had high time regional guys come to our flight school begging for a part-time CFI job, none of which existed. Plus more than a few furloughed legacy guys.

I remember having to pay for your own ATP, and if you wanted an interview, pay for a type rating. Remember the 'spaceflight time' checkbox on SWA's app? Even as recently as 2019, if you wanted to get on at AS, or SWA, or really any of the majors, in reality you needed 1000 TPIC minimum and a CKA letter.

It is amazing how the industry has changed. I graduated college in 1994, when the military was RIF'ing countless pilots and closing bases. Civilians had almost zero chance of getting to mainline. Even getting *any* kind of paid flying job was difficult. Things got a bit better in the late 90s and then 9/11 happened (just as I had accumulated all my ratings and hours and was applying to the regionals, all the legacies furloughed.) Hiring picked back up again in maybe '04 for a few years, then '08 happened and basically nobody got hired for the next 4 years. I had a UAL buddy who got hired August '01, furloughed the next month, recalled in I think 2004 (?), then furloughed again in '08. Then we had a decent run 2013-2019 until the 'rona.

Somewhere there must be a graph showing all Part 121 hiring stats throughout the years. It would be fascinating to see. So many stories to be told. When you talk to the old-timers who lived through the late 70's and 80s (deregulation, Frank Lorenzo, the CAL strike, Eastern / Pan Am / Braniff going under, TWA being folded into AA, and so on and so forth...the East guys who through some awful strokes of luck found themselves as 20 yr FOs, the guys who found themselves as 10 year FEs)...how different it is today. I was a kid during the '80s, so had no clue about any of this, but have had the fortune to talk with guys who lived through all that. What a different reality they experienced.

"Flying the Line" should be the Day 1 Indoc assignment for all new 121 pilots.

Wow, I really sound like a grumpy ol' pilot, don't I?