Okay, I agree with the 1500/500 mins but I'm not going to go buy my ATP checkride out of pocket. I've already dumped a load of $$ into this profession just to get furloughed and now you say I need to go get an ATP rating?!?! "Just say no this one". IMHO

My point exactly.
Furthermore look at what it will do to the supply and demand equation it's a win win.

I guess what I'm missing in all of this is where is the supporting data for the rule change? It seems like the rule change was predicated on assumptions regarding low-time pilots.

Now I agree that low-time pilots can be a lot of work. But that's not the goal of the legislation. The goal of the legislation is to enhance safety. But I have not seen any study saying that a sub-1500 hour pilot without an ATP is more dangerous than a pilot with more than 1500 hours and an ATP.

What are the statistics? Where is the data? Does anyone have anything released from insurance companies that can target or pin-point who the high-risk pilots really are?

Oh believe me, it's a fact of life. I've tried both ways

We'll see then, won't we? I predict that this rule will not last longer than 10 years without at least some sort of modification for the reasons that I outlined in my earlier post.

You mentioned that the EASA/JAA pilots don't have the means of acquiring flight time....have you ever stopped to consider that the very same thing has started to occur in the good ole' US of A?

Also, standards for EU pilots entry into integrated programs are falling...and falling fast. I work for a very large European FTO, and I'm scared at some of the morons that make it through our program. There are a myriad of reasons for this, and I won't go into them here because, well, it's already past my bedtime, but you can rest assured that if I ever visit the EU, I'll only ride on the likes of BA, Lufthansa, Transavia, or Air France. The second rate outfits will not be considered.

About the rich being the only ones allowed to play....an integrated program (that's the zero-to-hero type) costs around 72,000 pounds sterling.....that's right around $100K with today's exchange rate....that's what I meant.

The 1500-hour requirement will do nothing to drive wages upward. Anyone who thinks that the regionals or other competing operators will just say to themselves "well, we need to start paying more" needs to be very careful the next time they set foot in a car dealership.

Being a good stick does not an experienced pilot make.

If a pilot has been "raised in the 121 bubble" then they have missed many vital experience lessons that only occur when solo either flying freight or CFI'ing. In order to make it to 1,500 TT unscathed an individual has to at least be fairly competent. Otherwise the "thinning of the herd phenomena" would have taken over.

Pay would have to increase.... as long as the politicians don't cave to the universities and airlines. How could it not?

I understand it not being convenient to elaborate when you first posted this, but I would REALLY like to hear your thoughts and observations on this matter. Please expand on this thought.

This is exactly what I've been saying for some time now. Second.

There aren't any solid statistics for low time 121 pilots that had major accidents. Colgan 3407 is a rare incident and the pilot flew through SLD and couple that with slow a/c they were in a bad place at a bad time.
what about Cali Colombia American Airlines flight? They had thousands of hours and they managed to fly straight into the side of a mountain, Value Jet, and all the other flights they show us in Indoc class is about Crew Coordination. Maintaining situational awareness is the hardest thing to teach. That is what the emphasis needs to be on. CFI's that fly Peter Pilot around the traffic pattern to attain 1500 hours isn't any safer than a 250 commercial rate pilot when they first sit into the cockpit of a 121 A/C.

This is the battle cry of lower-timers and PFT salesmen. Don't believe it it for a minute...there is far more experience, judgment, and confidence to gained in 1500 hours of GA. Of course it helps if your experience is a mixture of primary, instrument, and ME instruction.