I just read that the FAA - shook and wanting to look decisive after the Colgan crash - has implemented that from the year 2013 only ATP(L)'s with 1500hrs are allowed to fly right seat for airliners. So no more CPL 200 hr cadet straight hire things.
This has huge implications. Expect EASA to ape.
Let's look at those implications:
This will most likely create a shortage of pilots down the line, and many may fall by the wayside. The good thing is that this will probably mean that the airlines will have to start to pay better again. No more FO's earning $16.000/year like in the Colgan case. The bad thing is that even less people will now consider becoming pilots, and that's as bad for GA as it is for Airlines. I mean, who can possibly afford to slog around in a 172 for 1500hrs out of your own pocket, just to be able to get an interview?
Conjuring with this is the figures I read in Pilot magazine: according to AOPA, 30% less have become pilots in the last 10 years, compared to the 10 years before that. That's a massive drop.
Add to this the FAA and EASA's ever increasing nannyfication of all things flying, and the future looks really bleak. We have to get more people to start flying. It's a numbers game. But how do we do that?