When I got hired on at Mesa about 1 year and 10 months ago, I was hired into the Dash-8 as a captain. At the time, I had been an FO for a few months on a SF-340, and had about 2900 TT, with most of that being single pilot ops with Cape Air and Martinaire, plus about 1300 hours of CFI'ing.
Though I met the Captain mins, and had a wide variety of experience (very little of which was 121) I was overwhelmed with the task at hand of being a Captain. I assured myself that I could do it, and I needed to embrace this lucky and well timed opportunity. When I hit the line, the real learning process began. Sure, I was technically proficient enough to do the job, and being at Mesa meant I also had to learn REAL QUICK about operational irregularities, but the bottom line was that I had to rely for several months heavily on the imput from FOs who had been flying the system for some time.
When I first started this gig, as a guy who ate dirt as a CFI and paid years of 135 dues, I was very skeptical and disheartened over the fact that there were numerous ultra-low time San Juaners in the right seat of the Dash flying in and out of Aspen, Eagle, Gunnison etc etc.... and would be with me, a green as he!! captain with mostly single pilot, east coast experience in the left seat. But much to my astonishment, these guys who averaged 400-700 hours TT were some really reliable, knowlegable, and proficient pilots. As someone who is now more settled in to the job, and has flown with pretty much every experience level FO Mesa has to offer, I will say with confidence that most of the San Juaners I've flown with are some of the best FOs out there from a safety and proficiency standpoint.
Now I'd still say that taking the longer road ultimately is the best route to 121 flying. More than anything, folks who have done so have a more realistic grasp on the industry in general, and also prove better under adverse conditions. But I routinely see FOs with 2000 hrs screw up as much if not more than one of far less time. It's really all about the individual.
In the case of the San Juaner FOs I've flown with on the Dash, Most are older (35-45) and have "worldly experience" that has if nothing else humbled them into being hard workers and intense studiers. Several have engineering degrees, some post-grad, and resumes worthy of a NASA job. One has a law enforcement background, one's a former Marine, one guy quit med school and travelled around the world for years between ski-patrol seasons. There are a couple young guys, but even they are sort of "brainiacs".
So, I guess my point is that on paper it sounds like these low time people are a safety hazard and a bad idea, but I tell you, you'd be impressed with what I've seen out of those folks. Everyone has a different story and followed a different path to get where they are. As a low timer eating $hit, I would have talked trash about San Juaners in jealosy, but would have probably jumped at that kind of opportunity should it have been presented. I will say however, eating the proverbial "feces" gave me some great memories, good bros, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
