I'm cautiously optimistic. Then again, I'm also in the "Well, he can't be any worse than the last guy" camp. If he doesn't lie right to my face he's already improved. PT did that on a couple of occasions. Sad thing is, I don't know if it was intentional or if he just didn't have a clue what was going on at his own company.
I did read Sean's letter, and immediately thought "Hey, his first day sounds a lot like my last two four days. Welcome to Pinnacle."
As for hiring, I talked to one of the guys that does hiring the other day. In a nutshell, we're up a creek without a paddle. The insurance company won't let them lower hiring minimums to Eagle's level, and the guys with higher times are either already at other carriers or don't wanna do the regional dance. So, we're left with either guys that WANT to be based out of MEM, MSP, ATL, DTW or JFK (not a WHOLE lot of those guys), the college bridge programs (which doesn't pump out the numbers we need to keep up with attrition alone) or guys that other airlines won't hire.