JKJCKSN:
I'm not going to get in a point by point debate banter or flame war with you but I will say it is very obvious your exposure to this industry is very limited in scope and I know if you stay in it 25 years from now you will wish you could go back and change many of your posts.
This industry should be geared to operate every flight at the highest level of safety not the lowest level of cost. The highest level of safety would include quality training AND a significant level of experience. Hint: 200 hours, is not a significant level.
I appreciate your candor and profundity, but I am astonished by your perceptiveness of what I've stated all along--quality training and pilots who exercise good judgment. I think we agree on that point.
But what of this 200 hrs nonsense?! I never endorsed that!! First off, you need 250 hrs just to qualify for a Commercial certificate just to be an F/O. And just to be clear, if a commercially-rated pilot can fly passengers around for a Part 135 operation, I can't fathom for the life of me why they can't be a required crewmember in a Part 121 operation! To me, there's no difference--passengers are passengers, whether they pay to fly in a Beechcraft King Air, a Cessna Citation, or a Canadair CRJ200. All airplanes can be crashed if not operated properly.
Also, "a significant level of experience" is not quantifyable. Besides, there are many pilots out there who are safe, prudent, and competent with less than 1,500 hrs total time. They all may not work for an airline, but many of them fly for a living and manage to do so just fine.
I'm a logical person, most pilots, by character, tend to be. Touchy-feely events, such as you witnessing the aftermath of an airline crash, will not persuade me to think that we need 121 new-hires to meet ATP minimums just to be a required crewmember onboard an airliner. Day-in and day-out there are many F/O's in our industry that don't meet ATP mins and fly the line in a safe and professional manner--multiple times a day, in all kinds of weather, day and night. I believe the same goes for Part 135 ops, as well. Those numbers will continue to mean more to me than the occasional accident--often times caused by something other than the amount of total time an individual pilot had when they were hired.
As I've stated before, we need quality training, revisions in favor of better crew rest requirements and working conditions, and pilots out there exercising good judgement. Combined, this will continue to provide for a safe operating environment.
As for the other items presented in the bill, if the government can regulate those tasks and do so without effing it up--like they tend to do with so many other facets of our lives--then I'm all for it. Otherwise, I'd rather the government not get involved and make things worse than they already have.
