Soon enough. Does that have anything to do with the topic?

welcome to your first 121. That makes the point. Sorry if it's harsh, just the point that experience in 121 is only learned from experience.

I absolutely agree with you. As I do with most of your posts. You seem to be a voice of reason among much drama and trolls. I admire that. Not harsh at all, IMHO, don't know why you thought it was. Each "arena" one flies in is slightly different as to the rules that guide us. Doesn't mean previous experience is any less valuable, of course, just means we have to do what we do a little differently.

If you are a mil guy, I would say to take a deep breath. It's different in 121. Just pointing out that hours and experience, by regime, has both a learning curve and past foundation to build on. 250 hours of total flight experience still leaves many mistakes to be made as learning blocks. Ask a 500 hour guy how many things he regrets at 250... Ask a 5,000 guy what he regrets at 1,500. If flight time didn't equate to some form of experience they wouldn't be the basis of credentials and minimums. 1500 was a knee jerk reactionary number to make it ATP mins to fly for an airline. Was it right? Wrong? Who knows. Step in the right direction? I'd say yes.

Between us, congress, and the FAA, am I the only one that realizes there are an infinite number of values between 250 and 1500? I don't understand why it's either one or the other. Drop it to 1000 or 1200 or 800. Then the industry gets less onerous hiring requirements and the pilots and survivors families still get higher minimum experience airline pilots. This doesn't seem like rocket science to me:

It's not the number as much as the ATP and type rating requirement... Which becomes a very big can of worms if opened.

1,500hrs is not much time at all. I think that putting ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) requirements to fly an AIRLINER only makes sense. I know I learned ALOT between 250-1,500hrs, I didn't just spend my time VFR in a 172 though, instructed alittle, flew some traffic watch, then SIC 135 cargo and by just over 1,200hrs PIC 135 cargo. So by 1,500hrs I'd seen a fair amount. Never the less I still had more than my fair share of potential fatal situations well beyond 1,500hrs, more than I care to admit due to faults of my own, but I survived and learned from it. That's what experience is. So suck it up, for a couple years and earn your experience.

Just got called for an interview on the 12th. Just out of curiosity, any idea on the average gap between a CJO and starting class?

The difference is that an instructor has a much better understanding of aerodynamics and the "foundation" of flying than a 250 hr. pilot. As someone who was never an instructor, but did have a few thousand hrs. prior to being hired, I can tell you that building a foundation prior to the airlines makes you a much better pilot than not. Airline pilots learn to fly a profile and really stop learning anything other than airline flying. When the crap hits the fan, the 250 hr wonders usually don't save the day. Look at the colgan crash, that captain was hired with around 500 hrs TT and stalled his airplane and was not able to recover. Perhaps 1000 more hrs of instructing would have given him the ability to break the stall. The Air france crash in south america-again a 300 hr-wonder-kid-hire at the controls. The airplane had a series of failure and an experience pilot was needed to save the day-yet he pulled the airplane into a 7000 fpm climb, stalled the plane, and kept it stalled all the way down to the ocean.

The 4 things you list can all be taught during airline training, but the basics need to be solid before you go to work for an airline.

I would plan on a month. It takes a little time to complete the background check. I know guys who interviewed around January 20th and are starting the next class on February 16th.