Originally Posted by globalexpress

Yeah, in addition to sending letters to the congressmen on the committee, I sent a brief note to Moak about that very topic. Moak should have commented that regionals like Republic COULD choose to hire pilots with as low as 750 hours separating from the military but no military guy is going to a crappy regional unless he/she has no other choice for obvious reasons.

The other comment I made to Moak was that the "flying circles in the sky" that Cohen (RAA) frequently makes and Bedford made today just screws me into the ceiling. Bedford basically stated in his testimony that the time a new pilot gains from 250 hrs. (Commercial Pilot Certificate) to the 1000/1250/1500 hrs. required by the ATP is pretty much wasted time "flying circles" and learning bad habits. I don't know about you guys, but between 250 hours and 1,500 hours I was flight instructing in simple and complex aircraft and flying Part 135 freight, all in good weather and bad. To imply that I (and my peers) are/were "flying circles in the sky" is pretty darn insulting to the guy/gals out there working and learning. Moak does a great job reinforcing the whole low pilot pay issue, but he also needs to reinforce the fact that the time building between 250 hours and 750/1000/1250/1500 is not wasted.