New Part 135 SIC Regs
 

Interesting. Lots of "lawyer speak" in there but you'll get the idea:

“This program allows a pilot employed by the part 135 air carrier/operator and serving as an assigned second in command (SIC) in a multiengine airplane or single-engine, turbine-powered airplane to log SIC flight time during operations that do not require a second pilot.”

https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/.../AC_135-43.pdf

Sounds like the FAA are trying to provide an alternative to flight instruction to meet Congress' daft 1500 hour rule.

In response to industry demands for relief from having to pay a living wage to pilots is more like it! At least that's one take on it...

While the reasoning behind the US Congress instituting the "1500 hour rule" was flawed and incorrect, the rule appears to have had some positive effect upon the entry-level terms and conditions of employment for aspiring professional pilots. The above document goes further by formalizing a practice which has been around in the on-demand charter industry for years, but left the low-time pilot with a very limited opportunity to legitimately log the time. Under this new scheme, at least the process is somewhat structured and formalized. There is obviously no solution which will satisfy everyone, but this seems a step in the right direction. Light twin and turboprop ops may even increase in the on-demand world as a result. I would have defined the "mentor-pilot" qualifications a bit more robustly if I had written the rule though. The "mentor pilot/PICs really should be qualified as company instructors IMHO.

At first reading, this seems like a reasonable idea if properly executed. Getting young people into a structured, mentored, professional operation early on is a good way to get the experience some say is lacking in the pilot supply here in the USA...and plant the seeds of a professional mindset and behavior.

Being a CFI is valuable but so (or perhaps more so) is busting around at night in TP freight ops; it's real-world flying. The complexity of the airplane is secondary to the complexity of the operational environment as a whole.

These young folks need to be given every opportunity to grab beast by the horns and do the flying.

We'll see what happens.

Westhawk,
To say an unintentional consequence of the 1500 hour rule was an increase in terms and conditions is way off the mark. The rule makers knew what was going to happen when they did it.
They needed pilots to be paid a living wage to stop them commuting across the country and sleeping in crew rooms.

Nothing about the 1500 rule is accidental.
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Don't give the collective group known as congress too much credit for actually knowing what they're doing! :=

In any case, it is what it is and this new policy may help aspiring airline (and other) pilots gain the experience they require while enhancing safety. As long as it is done with care and with qualified mentors setting the right example.