Can't argue there. I guess I was trying to make the point that having more hours is not going to make you a better user of a checklist or better at reading runway signs. Between 250hrs and 25,000hrs you are not going to get any better at using a checklist.
You sort of nailed what I've been unable to eloquently state, and my really my only materially valid gripe about this change. Let me expound upon it.
(Let me state: I've also accepted its inevitability and like every other regulatory change ever foisted upon an airline pilot, I'll complain vociferously about it and then comply anyway and say how great things are now that it's effective. If that hasn't come through clearly, well, mea culpa, it's hard to project tone on the innerwebz. It's also somewhat difficult for me to be serious about this thread since (a) what we think about it here is largely irrelevant and (b) this is not the venue to submit comments to the Department of Transportation. 1,500 hours with some carve-outs is fait accompli thanks to an act of Congress, too.)
Central beef: Certain habits that I would call professional airmanship have to be instilled from day one, and it's been my experience going through the training environment that their instilling is hit and miss and largely up to the first few instructors that you have. I've been very fortunate in my training, timebuilding and aeronautical work experience to be, from day one, in that happy balance between serious, relaxed, compliant/spot on, and fun that (IMO) both builds the best pilots and produces the best quality in flight operations possible. I had some excellent, experienced flight instructors (including the old man, who has forgotten more about flying than I'll ever know), and wandered pretty far outside the confines of the PTS along the way. I also work in an environment that generally has a good safety culture in flight operations.
Problem: Not all environments are created equal; not all training/timebuilding experiences are created equal. Not all pilots are created equally for that matter, and the increase in FO qualifications will in the long run be a net positive for the industry in terms of improving the general level of airmanship in the business. But to me it almost isn't enough to throw numbers out there—I think that the pilot certification model overall deserves some scrutiny and indeed where the industry is going with respect to flying skills (system manager versus aviator...) should get some attention too.
From a public policy standpoint, this and other parts of HR5900 represent what Kingdon would call a confluence of policy problems (air transport safety at the regional airline level), solutions (increased FO qualifications, and a whole boat load of other things including SMS), and the public will to make a change (caused by quite a few rather deplorable accidents at the regional level). One of the things about such solutions is that they never 100% match the stated problem and, to me, this does not even approximate a 100% match to the stated problem, but it's not a bad start, and it is the solution that matched up time-wise.
Will the industry adjust? Most certainly. This is far from a business-ending event for anyone, and at least where I've worked the low time pilots were anomalies, not the norm, and many pilots period (regardless of their experience or qualification level) got bounced from the interviews (for whatever reason) or from initial training (for failure to adapt). I actually think that the regionals are on the decline for reasons besides labor supply—there was no shortage of ATPs looking for work where and when I interviewed.
I'd like DOT to end the regulatory uncertainty and get a final rule out, so that we can all hurry up and get on with the actually aviating. Speaking of that, I'm going to go do some aviating—backside of a cold front in SoCal is a beautiful day for an airplane ride. I and a handful of my coworkers have our work cut out for us, and I personally am more than happy to bust our butts to keep our jobs.
tl;dr: This whole deal is actually a win, but it is far from a silver bullet; time to get on with the flying. Take all of the above with a grain of salt. Do not take with alcohol. Consult your doctor right away if you experience chest pain, as this may be a sign of a rare, but serious side effect.
(Oh, and jtrain609 - just as soon as I comply with this regulatory hurdle and get the ATP, I'm going to go out and get a full set of instructor ratings too, so that I can be a more productive contributor to building better pilots. And because, truth is, I've always wanted to teach flying—I worked through college as a computer science instructor, and I would like nothing better than to be able to apply that experience to teaching folks to aviate. I got an unexpected career reroute a few years ago while in the process of doing so—I'm sure you're familiar with that—and I'm still trying to get back to it. And ah crud, my written tests are expired too. Groan. BRB, professional development.)
