i think its a great idea...
i understand that there are many great 1000 hour pilots and many lousy 10,000 hour pilots but flight schools can keep their instructors longer and finding a job at a regional will be easier.
For heavens sake... this has nothing to do with the job market... it's supposed to impact on safety.... and what use is a few hundred hours more or less of flying around a small airport on a sunny day watching ab-initio students getting to grips with the flare... counts for nothing in the real world of winter night ops/crm and tough decision making involving 'ops-money' versus safety margins...
There has to be at least one crew member up front with solid experience of the aircraft in all flight regimes and a logbook that testifies to a number of years of hard IFR and headbanging with flight ops. The passengers have a right to expect it and if necessary they should be made to realise they need to pay extra to ensure it...
We're talking about sophisticated aircraft that young crews approach like a FlightSim toy... there are real people down the back.
A 3 pilot system of second officer status riding jump-seats would greatly enhance experience prior to a full first officer status and give the captain a useful tool in the right seat.... and oh yes... it would also improve the job market
