So if 500 hours makes me a danger around a jet, and 1000 hours makes me okay, and 1500 makes me qualfied to chuck gear, at what point do I become experienced and qualfied enough to become a jet captain? Hours *should* be moot when experience is a much better indicator of piloting ability.
Lets take your average 1200hr CFI. They probably have their COM-ASMEL and CFI-IA and 800 or more dual given, with probably only 20-30 hours of multi time because their school doesnt have one and they couldn't afford to buy more. Most of their time is VFR instruction in a Cessna 172 or Piper Cherokee.
Now lets take somebody with 600 hours and a CFI with 200 dual given. They have knowledge of transport aircraft systems and extensive experience in transport aircraft simulators, lots of time IFR in the system, maybe 50-100 multi and might have flown turbine aircraft or two into the flight levels (albeit under the close eye of an experienced captain).
Ignore their total time and look at each person's experience. Which one of these pilots is more likely to succeed in an airline's training program? Which one would you want shooting an approach down to minimums if the captain becomes incapacitated? Which one is going to make the better captain once they upgrade?
Each person's skill set is different; airlines (and to a higher degree, insurance companies) should not use an arbitrary number when trying to assess a pilot's risk or ability.
