Probably in the next ten years the multi-crew license will make it so that airlines can hire cadet pilots with zero time and train them exclusively in airline operations to attain a line ready first officer in less than 200 hours.

The FAA and insurance companies are the ones that set the actual minimums. Everyone would agree that they are low however it all seems to work out. I have never heard of an airliner that has crashed due to a low time FO but I have heard of plenty that have gone down due to complacent old captains.

No one likes to think that others can do the job so cheaply and with so little experience, but the facts indicate that all that is necessary is the current FAA mandated minimums. And, those minimums are due to get even lower.

Skyhigh