I tried to figure out what the minimum required training hours are a few years ago. As far as I was able to find, the only fixed amount of dual instruction required are the 20 hours required before you can take your private check ride at 40 hours minimum total time, distributed amongst the various buckets, e.g., night, cross-country, etc. After that it’s just accumulate the hours and your instructors sign you off for the next rating when you’ve accumulated enough hours in the right buckets, *and* they think you are ready for the test.

With that in mind I’ve always thought some of the instruction hours requirements for occupations like hair dressers were absurd when basically the worst that can happen is that somebody gets a bad haircut.

The new FAA requirement is not “1,500 hours of training”. The FAA now requires 1500 hours total flight time. Total flight time is not the same thing as “training hours”.

From MCC’s own source, the FAA press release on new rules for the Airline Transport Pilot certificate:

The rule requires first officers — also known as co-pilots — to hold an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, requiring 1,500 hours total time as a pilot. Previously, first officers were required to have only a commercial pilot certificate, which requires 250 hours of flight time.

Link to press release: https://perma.cc/8FNG-P5J6

That said, Michigan’s requirement of “1,500 hours of training or a two-year apprenticeship, $200 in fees and passing an exam” just to shampoo a non-family member’s hair is still asinine.