People it really does not matter who gets hired with how many hours. If you got hired by Mesaba, just be happy you are now working for the only regional that is growing. That is a great news for you all.

If those 300 hour pilots got hired, they must have pleased the one who was interviewing them. It's as simple as that. I've seen some really experienced pilots with great personalities not get hired at both Majors and regionals like Mesaba or Skywest.

It's all about who is interviewing you that day and what direction the Director of Ops is leaning towards on that week. Mesaba did hire quite a few new pilots under 350 hours in 2007 and early 2008. I do not think this is a problem at all because all over the world and in the military, they have proved that relatively new pilots can indeed handle sophisticated aircraft.

It's all about how good and motivated your training department is. Mesaba, hands down, has the best training department I have ever seen mainly due to the quality of instructors at Mesaba. They seem to really want to help you succeed.