The pilots of Colgan Dash in Buffalo all met the new experience requirements.
To be clear, I was not referring specifically to the Colgan crash, but rather to the large vol of TSB reports on such incidents as porposing a 737 or running off the runway. Not just major accidents.
The Colgan Crash was pretty much the trigger for change.
The problem is if you start with someone with 250!hours and no experience, they really don't get the necessary flying experience and deeply entrenched skills by warming the right seat. And of course there are exceptions. But they are.....well, exceptions, not the rule
As to the other post regarding some pilots who fly better at 1000 hours than others at 2000, of course. What is your point? Hopefully that is what the selection process for an airline trys to determine before hiring. And again, you can only have so much experience at 250 hrs...superstars excluded, though in self assessment, most 250 hr pilots would catagorize themselves as a superstar.
Yes, the US airlines blew smoke up the administrator's butt with regard to pretending a great training program would compensate for a lack of experience. And unfortunately, there has to be accidents or incidents before the regulator can effect change.
And yep, now the new plan is to get your time instructing on a 172 to qualify, and then go direct...we will see how that plays out.