Nothing..... except it is usually cheaper for the company to keep the autopilot working than pay for a SIC. And many of the PFT 135 gigs have gone away as well.

While that is true, the point was requiring 1500 hours or an ATP will not mean every pilot who gets into 121 will have the skills, judgment, and airmanship that those in support of the law want. Just like there are people who buy the last 10 hours of multi time they need to break 100 hours or partner up with somebody for some “safety pilot” time to get to the minimums, there will be those who find somebody who lets them sit in the right seat in their King Air with no autopilot and watch the real pilot fly for 1250 hours.

The best part of the law is that 121 will no longer have the lowest entry requirement of 250 hours and a commercial certificate. Most flight schools don't like putting someone with that amount of time in command of a 172 with a student. New pilots will more than likely have had a few pilot jobs as CFIs or charter pilots, so they will at least have a good amount of experience working as a pilot.

I don't want to come across as painting everyone with the same brush. There are always exceptions. There will always be high time pilots who suck and there will also be low timers who rock. I just don't think that SIC'ing an RJ as soon as you hit 250 hours is a very beneficial way to acquire hours during those very early, formative hours of one's flying career. I really think that they are missing out on opportunities that will offer much more experience and knowledge that will benefit them down the road when they are competent to be PIC of an airliner.
It's nothing more than on-the-job training. Take a guy when he knows next to nothing, mold him to fit your company's pilot profile, throw him in the left seat and he's good to go. Take him out of that atmosphere though, and he might have no clue what to do. I just prefer more well rounded pilots.

There are only a certain number of hours in a week, you could not sleep all that much and fit everything into a week, but I think that wouldn't make sense if finding ways to improve safety is the whole point argument here. Seems like common sense.

I wouldn't be doing what I am doing now if I didn't think things worth having were worth working hard for.

For me as being on the 121 Captain chair. Having an F/O with ATP has 2 reasons:

1) Pay your dues buddy get to that ATP 1,500 hours finish line before flying 121. Any flying as Captain makes you a better pilot, because the decision was made by you no matter the scenario. You did not killed yourself or another. So flying 1,500 as CFI it shows me a better candidate to be on my side on an Engine Fire than a 450 hours jet jockey...
2) To my understanding ATP means AIRLINE Transport Pilot and both the PIC and SIC are AIRLINE pilots so why the difference of having an F/O without an ATP?

I flew with those 250 F/O's and the day is longer and more stressful. Is like being a training captain without being paid xtra for that...And Sorry if I am AGAINST this rich lowtimers that make my day more dangerous 95% of the time...

Let me know when the pilot puppy mills have the same standards as the Lufthansa Cadet Program. When the junior regional Captain has the same experience as the junior Lufthansa Captain. When the depth of the operations management at any American regional matches that of Lufthansa. And when the initial operating experience program at any American regional matches that used by Lufthansa.

In other words -- you can not cherry pick. Take all of the Lufthansa program or don't take any of it.

Most of the airlines in Europe hire with 250 hours, but the interview process, simulator training, line training is much different and much harder than any regional. FYI my company hires F/Os with 250 hours into the Airbus family and you have a percentage that doesn't make it past the 1st day of interviews.

I think all people who preach/demand the 1500hr ATP for a regional FO should put the number of hours they had at the time they were first hired to fly in their signature. I would bet that there are a lot that got hired with far less than 1500 hours and are now against the very conditions under which they got hired.

135 mins are pretty close to 1500 hours so getting PIC 135 time is out for most, traffic jobs are few and far between now that they have cameras everywhere, banner jobs aren't that easy to get in most places and jumpers are the same way. So now you are back to being a CFI if you can find a school/job. My memory may be slipping but I don't remember aircraft just falling out of the sky a few years ago when people were getting jobs with a wet COM. Oh and if you go to a 141 school they didn't have 250 hours either, it was much less.

I do believe that training should be harder, testing should be harder and more indepth. That goes both ways though and recurrent training probably needs to be a lot harder for captains as well. You should be tested to a point of weeding out the weak, whether that be a 250 hour wonder, a 1500 hour CFI or a 15000 hour captain. Hours don't make the pilot. The type of hours make the pilot.

I do think that if the 1500 hour "law" is implemented and firm on the hours, you will see a new round of PFT programs at frieght companies and others. Simple fact is that people are going to pay to get to the 1500 hours if that is what the limit is. Not everyone wants to / needs to / or can be a CFI so the people that think the only way to be a "real" pilot is to be a CFI need to come to terms with reality and move on. Becoming a pilot is a second career for many and frankly they don't have the time to work 2-3 years as a CFI. Regional pay is bad enough without prolonging the pain 2-3 more years. Right or wrong it is what it is.

Good thing the FAA and congress wasn't around back in the day. Orvil and Wilber would have had to have 1500 hours before heading down to kitty hawk, then where would we all be.

I think the industry as a whole would be better off with airline sponsored training programs, and rigorous assessment. Ensuring the best of the best make it through. That way the rule is awesome 250 hour pilots, not the exception. At Cathay, their 'cadets' sit as a one stripe cruise officer for 3 years minimum before they start doing take off's and landings, or anything below 10,000 feet.

Do you think there a way to change the our industry for the better? And really, unfortunately with the 'pilot shortage' coming, the ATP hour rule will not be the same as the 1500 hour rule...

Cheers!

Im just curious what you think is going to happen once demand increases and the airlines literally do not have enough applicants with an ATP. Park planes? Recruit directly from aviation universities with "jet bridge" courses and CRM classes? Eagle and others are already having trouble filling classes as it is. I just see this creating an equally large problem. Is it just me? Seems like there is no clear solution. Not to mention this will make the career path of a pilot seem even more arduous thus attracting less qualified people.

Incidentally lets remember both pilots in the Colgan crash (what started this campaign) had well above ATP minimums but still couldn't react to a stall properly...