Originally Posted by
The Duke
I agree. I think most of the provisions are good but I am left scratching my head on the 1500 hour requirement. This legislation was inspired by Colgan 3407 and both pilots had well over 1500 hours at time of crash.
There are no statistics to back up the 1500 hour requirement. FWIW, best FO I ever flew with had well south of 1500 hours when he started out on the Dash 8 here @ Mesa. A better system can be implemented than just setting the bar at an arbitrary value such as 1500 hours. We owe it to this younger generation of pilots who are fighting and clawing to get into this industry.
The requirement would be an ATP not 1500 hours. If you watched the hearings, Mr. Babbitt stated that
training required for an ATP may be too low as well. He implied that he would like to see the requirements for an ATP be increased.
And we dont owe the younger (or older) generation anything. We DO owe our passengers, freight, and those on the ground the assurance that we are doing everything possible to insure a safe flight. If that means some folks who really
wanna be a pilet doesn't get to play, then so be it.