iAny way you look at it, the elimination of GA would cause major
problems for
the airlines./i

Nope. Not true. You don't need to be an ATP to be a copilot on an
airliner, only a commercial pilot. That takes only 250 hours (and less
under Part 141). Of course more experience is desirable, but it's not
necessary. If we're talking about airliners like the Airbus, which
(according to all my friends who have flown them) handle far more like
Microsoft Flight Sim than like an airplale (right down to the little
joystick with no feedback), the experience is not even particularly
desirable.

You forget that when hiring gets tight, the regionals start taking
people at 500 hours. In much of the world, 250 hours gets you into the
right seat of an airliner even today - and that's without family
connections. You earn the rest of your 1500 hours towards the ATP in
the right seat. In fact, the US is pretty unusual in that someone can
become an ATP without being an airline employee. In Europe, this is
already impossible - to take the ATP checkride, you need 500 hours as
SIC in a crew environment (no, safety pilot doesn't count) so you have
to get the airline job first, before you can get the ATP.

There are already large numbers of flight schools out there, located in
the middle of nowhere, which are quite prepaed to take pilots from zero
to 250-hour CFI/CFII/MEI without any contact with recreational GA (or
real-world flying). They train their own instructors, and the
instructors train the next crop, with maybe a retired (or failed)
airline pilot or two supervising the whole deal. They can keep
supplying the airlines long after there is a 30-mile no-fly zone around
every major city and there is a fee for every flight plan.

Don't kid yourself - the airlines don't need GA, especially not
recreational GA.

Michael