Wow, thanks for the math. Have you met your wife? JK. If I change the sentence to be 14 years, that would make it more average. Does it change the point that regional pilots are not necessarily inexperienced?

If ya got it (F/O) flaunt it. If ya don't (capt), FAKE IT!

TW that's Captain TW

Lots of authority, no responsibility. I like it. No more FSAPs! Been looking for a good excuse to get older.

TW

BINGO! Well said!

You'll never see a 22 year old CA 2 years from being a CFI flying with a 600 hour piston guy in the right seat at a major.

Nope, not the argument at all. Many, even most are very experienced. It's the 5-10% who have very little experience which scares folks.

There are majors flying around with 87 years of airline experience in the flight deck. Exceptions don't matter.

The point still stands that regional pilots, as a whole, are less experienced... sometimes significantly so... than mainline pilots. It isn't meant to be an insult, it is a fact.

That is only a small part of what I was trying to say though. Flying on a RJ makes me nervous because I know how these companies run. Everything is pushed to the limit. Crews with less experience are flying around with the deck stacked against them on a daily basis due to worse (sometimes horrible) support from dispatch, maintenance, training, and management. They're going into difficult airports and doing it many more times per day on less hours of sleep. Everyone also has to admit that there are regional airline pilots out there that couldn't ever cut it at mainline and shouldn't be in any jet cockpit.

Riding on an RJ, thinking to yourself...

I wonder how many MELs this thing has?
I wonder how many hours of sleep the crew got last night?
I wonder what leg this is for them?
I wonder what the conditions are going to be like at this uncontrolled field were going to are?
I wonder if the FO still has a temporary commercial pilot certificate?
I wonder if the captain hates his life and is horribly unprofessional in the cockpit because he can't cut it at any major airline interviews?
I wonder if dispatch even looked at the weather before they sent them their release?
And does that dispatcher have time to even pay attention to them if they have a problem, between the other dozens of flights they've been burdened with?
I wonder if MX had the budget to fix the broken things on this plane? Or are spare parts out of stock once again?

etc etc etc. I could go on for days. The point being, sure, some of this stuff might come up at mainline, but not as frequently or at as high of a magnitude as commonly does at a regional. Therefore, I don't think it is toolish whatsoever to be concerned more about your safety on an RJ. As I stated previously, I even fly the dang things and I'm more concerned when riding on them, compared with mainline.

I have to say, I agree.. On the other side, when I'm on my commute home sitting up front in a 73ER and the CA has 22 years USAF experience and is in his 20something year at DL, I feel safe when we are beating our way through WX and windshear etc etc.. Not to mention the FO has 20 plus in the Navy and is on year 10 at DL..

I could sit and play "I Wonder" all day also about every mode of transportation I use. However, I know I was still a hell of a lot safer flying on that "little jet" than driving to and from the airport or even the local grocery store while dodging all the so called seasoned drivers with many years of experience out there on the roadways. But then I could go on and on about that. Just keeping it all in context. ;)

You're correct, outside of the context of purely airline flying, it sure is one of the safer modes of transportation out there.