That would be good. Only time will tell.

Oh, man! Did you just bring that up? I can see Delta/Comair and Mesaba putting the ax to all furloughed guys that don't meet the requirement. That would be a way for them to completely right size their companies. Would be horrible, but I wouldn't put it past them.

wrong, it wouldnt cause a shortage of pilots, the pay being so low caused the shortage. there are plenty of pilots out there, but there arent that many pilots willing to work for peanuts. Not to mention the large number of pilots on furlough right now that need jobs, but i assure you between the corporate pilots, freightdogs and furloughs there are pilots out there able to do the job but the pay keeps them away from ever applying to the regionals. I've been there done that and if i ever was laid off at DAL i wouldnt apply to a regional and do that over again either. I'd go do something else until recall. The regionals just arent worth it to most especially today when upgrades are running in the 5-10 year range.

I don't believe that a shortage would be caused at all as there are plenty of pilots with that time. The only shortage is the availability of jobs that don't pay crappy wages. Besides, there are plenty of ATP's that are furloughed or are refugees because their airline simply shut the doors.

Ultimately, I'm hoping this will make regionals increase pay and QOL to be able to attract those that are qualified. The current wages/QOL seem to be designed for the 200 hour SJS pilot mill wonderboys.

Putting an ax to furloughed guys that don't meet the requirements? I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind that statement.

Furloughing them in the first place is an attempt to right size the company. Further giving them an ax? Not sure what that would accomplish. If anything grandfathering them in would help offset the pain management will see with finding qualified pilots in 2012 during the hiring boom.

There are tons of pilots out there that are way over these minimums. Not to be harsh but 1500 hours isn't much time..... Heck even 2500 is low time in the civilian world! I would be in favor of a minimum of 4000TT with at least 1500 SIC to operate an aircraft under part 121 as PIC. There are over 150,000 pilots that have the ATP license.

Edwin,

Get off your high horse! Republic and CPZ are the two most experienced "regional" airlines. Our pilot group consists of former airline, including Airways, United, etc. as well as many of the other smaller regionals; Military, both fighters and heavies; Corporate flight department pilots, both jet and prop; and the list goes on and on. Yes, we do have our low time pilots but they certainly number less than your 50% comment.

Next time you spew your trash at least have enough information to back up your blanket statements!:rolleyes:

Joker

This will be the ultimate test for ALPA, to see if they really do protect the guys at the bottom of the list or if there focus is to protect the senior guys that provide the higher income.

They got one strike with the age 65 agenda, let's see if they can hit the ball with this one.

Not sure where this boom is coming from...... Have you looked at how many pilots are furloughed from majors and regionals? Also our economy is in the dumps and airlines are contracting just to stay alive. There won't be any large term growth (which is what causes hiring not age 65 attrition) for the foreseeable future. I think this is a myth perpetuated by flight schools.

i disagree completely....pay is a mute point when it comes to pilot shortages. every flight school out there is gonna talk up the pay to every uninformed joe schmo who thinks it would be cool to fly an airplane for a living. i saw it every day as a flight instructor...the students would laugh and think i was joking when i told them they would basically live in poverty their first five years at an airline. they are being lied to by the people selling the schools and that will never stop. just like any other profession out there, there will always be the uninformed people that will do this without looking at the facts first.

with a raising of the minimums all you are going to see is a temporary shortage followed by a boom of people with the time. don't get me wrong, i am a low time guy and have no problem with raising the minimums. 1500 hours is more than reasonable to ask of someone to fly a bus around with people's lives in your hands. i do agree that pay needs to go up, i just think there will never be a TRUE shortage of pilots.

(sorry if i offended anyone named joe schmo out there)