Too many people are seeing this rule as affecting safety by increasing he hour requirement and those increase hours makin better pilots at regionals. Although i think they will be a little better, I don't believe this is the real intention of the senators nor the family since both pilots had plenty of time and experience when it happened. The legislators and the family mostly show disgust and concern with the way pilots are compensated and treated at the regional level. How do you change that without mandating minimum wages??? Simply create a barrier to entry to boost the demand side of the equation, which will make regionals have to provide a better QOL to attract pilots. This increased quality of life will also yield safer pilots because the main gist of this whole thing was that they were fatigued from having to commute because they couldn't afford to live in base. how do you make regional pilots safer? Create a barrier to entry that will yield better pilots, end up paying them more, and make them less fatigued all the time. All of this equals happier and safer pilots.

People who make the argument that "at one time you needed 1500 hours get hired anyway so this will have no impact on pay" are incorrect. High time requirements in the past have always occurred at times when regionals were hiring the least with pilots everywhere with 250 hours lining at the door. In other words when supply was high and demand was low. once attition and growth start occurring again, which will invariably happen over the long term future, suddenly supply is there with people who've been instructing for the last few years, but once you hire them away from all the instruction jobs (who are being replaced with new cfis who need to instruct for a few years to get to 1500 hours) suddenly you are stuck in a two to three year gap in supply while demand stays constant.

Regionals will still need pilots but with none to fill the spots at that crappy quality of life...then shazam! They will have no choice but to raise pay and benefits to attract pilots against going to another carrier.