Epaulettes

[skelly2005]

I am confused on the above title! Obviously i know what epaulettes are but what i am confused at is what each bar represents. I know that they go from 1-4 bars and come in gold and silver. Can somebody please explain????

[View From The Ground]

Awwwww poor skelly asks an innocent question and look at the replies to his 4th post......I stand to be corrected but

4 = Captain
3 = Senior First Officer
2 = First Officer
1 = Second Officer

As for gold or silver nothing should be read into that its a Company choice....e.g. BA choose Silver as do most American carriers....Gold seems to be going out of fashion in the west but popular in the East...so Singapore Airlines are in gold....

[jollyikarus]

Gold is much more expensive than silver, so silver is the result of cost-cutting efforts. But watch it......the silver price is on the rise while gold is falling! :-)

Cheers!

[jondc9]

hi:

in the US, 4 stripes is captain (PIC)
3 stripes is f/o (or pilot qualified flight engineer/second officer)

2 stripes is (was!) a professional flight engineer (at one point you could be an f/e if you were a mechanic and you didn't need to be pilot qualified, but that changed way back when)

1 stripe didn't have anything to do with pilot rankings, though some of our flight attendents had one stripe of a very different color.

[cavortingcheetah]

:hmm:

British Airways flight crew might have you believe that their silver coloured bars are actually platinum tinged. In such a fashion do they represent their standing in the field of aviation in their own eyes.
I have heard a rumour that the uniform standards division of the CAA is shortly to introduce wavy bars, as used to be worn in the RNVR. The intention is to issue these bars to low time pilots and perhaps inexperienced cabin crew so that passengers will immediatly know whom not to follow in an emergency.:cool:

[FlyUK]

he intention is to issue these bars to low time pilots and perhaps inexperienced cabin crew so that passengers will immediatly know whom not to follow in an emergency.

What, the ones who do EXACTLY the same SEP training as the more 'Senior Crew' :confused:

At BA and quite a few other airlines...

4 - Captain (not necessarily PIC)
3 - SFO
2 - FO
1 - Not used anymore.

P.s THEY ARE PLATINUM! :p

[Denti]

Over here its more simple:

4 Captain

3 FO (from first day line training on with 200 hours total :} )

2 not used

1 not used

Oh, and its platinum all right, (well, so they say) just another remembrance of our times as a 100% BA owned company a few years back.

Other companies use different schemes with cabin crew having a few stripes as well so there is no real rule to it, at least no official one.

[Rainboe]

I would like the large shoulder things with tassels hanging down like you get on curtains at theatres, and possibly a gold sash and ceremonial sword, though I anticipate problems getting through security with that. Trouble is 'platinum' tassels wouldn't look quite right. But I like the idea of a 'Lichtenstein Admiral' uniform. Guess i'll just have to settle for 4 rings, but gold looks awfully gaudy after platinum!

[allwerp]

with Malaysia Airlines,its :

4 Bars plus a star : Management pilot
4 Bars : Captain
3 Bars : F/O with ATPL
2 1/2 Bars : F/O without ATPL
2 Bars : Second officer(no difference basically between S/O and F/O,except that S/O has less hours)
1 Bar : Cadet pilot under conversion training

cheers! :ok:

[farefield]

Epaulettes.....................................weren't they a singing group from the 60's

[RJ71]

Africa, Twin otter captain - 3 stripes...:}

...Maybe we re not real captains...

[Rainboe]

Well it's not a real continent, either, sliping back into feudalism, savagery and racism, in all corners! 3 rings max for you young man!

[EC Does It]

Epaulettes? There is nowhere on a t-shirt to put them. Anyway, they would't match the flip flops.

Hola desde la playa, ECDI.

[QNH1013]

At Air Asia

2 Bar - First Officer
3 Bar - Senior First Officer (with unfrozen ATPL)
4 Bar - Captain

All Gold

At Cathay Pacific,

1 Bar - Second Officer
2 Bar - Junior First Officer
2 1/2 Bar - First Officer
3 Bar - First Officer and Relief Commander
4 Bar - Captain

All Gold.

[codpiece face]

In the uk engineers are supposed to wear stripes as part of their line unifrom and these can range from one to four, with our company they are different by way of having maroon between the gold bars.

At a lot of airlines the operations people wear stripes as well.

[cavortingcheetah]

:hmm:

If I remember correctly, the reason that maroon appears on engineers' epaulettes is in memory of those engineers who frantically tried to kep the RMS Titanic afloat as long as possible. Their selfless sacrifice in remaining below and tripping circuit breakers, allowing the ship to stay illuminated as long as possible, allowed many passengers to be evacuated who would otherwise have floundered in the dark. There is,or was, a memorial at East Park, Southampton, to the engineer officers who remained at their posts on April 15th, 1912.

____________________________________________________________ _____

[Finger Bob]

What, the ones who do EXACTLY the same SEP training as the more 'Senior Crew' :confused:
At BA and quite a few other airlines...
4 - Captain (not necessarily PIC)
3 - SFO
2 - FO
1 - Not used anymore.
P.s THEY ARE PLATINUM! :p

Just to add that whatever their background pilots join BA as an FO with two stripes (there are odd exceptions). Direct Entry Pilots who have been Captains in other airlines or fast jet pilots in the RAF etc all join as two stripe FO's. After four years as an FO, assuming you have an ATPL, there is an interview to upgrade to Senior FO.

Recent exceptions include Captains from airlines merged into BA who kept their rank.

[Buckshot]

Heard recently that commanders of the A380 at one airline will have five bars on the epaulettes. A little OTT if you ask me...

[EC Does It]

Heard recently that commanders of the A380 at one airline will have five bars on the epaulettes. A little OTT if you ask me...

Oh Buckshot not really OTT, one to match each on board.......

[JamesA]

EC Does It,
Have you no imagination, us freight dogs got around the problem years ago. We have them printed on the T-shirt shoulders, problem solved.


I have heard many theories re engineers having maroon between the gold. Every one feasible. Basically all the colours were carried over from the navy. In the Netherlands these colours were used to denote different functions, although I recall only Maroon being used with British companies. Also, only the French and Belgians retained the cirlicue (hope that how it is spelt), on the upper ring. Italians use a star above the top ring to denote training captain.
Any more variations to chew over a beer or two?

[Saxon Ops]

The bars seemingly represent the thickness of their wallets, each one roughly representing £20k in the UK.

Saxon Ops

[Regis Potter]

Some years ago the boss of a Southend based company with operations in Africa told me that he possesed a pair of 5 bar epaulettes "cos down there everyone's got 4 f@#$%&g stripes" :)

[Old Smokey]

I was told years ago that when gold is less than 3 molecules in thickness (or was it microns) the colour changes to green.

Given current cost cutting measures, the epaulette standard in Singapore Airlines is -

4 Green Bars = Captain
3 Green Bars = Senior First Officer
2 Green Bars = Junior First Officer
1 Green Bar = Second Officer
0 Green Bars = Cadet Pilot :{

Regards,

Old Smokey

[aw8565]

As a PPL holder, can I wear 4 stripes seeing as I would be Pilot in Command, or 'Captain,' as I like to say....?

Would I look silly climbing out of a PA28?

[Old Smokey]

Would I look silly climbing out of a PA28?

No, not really. Just tell anyone who asks that you're commuting to and from your job as a B747 Captain in your Cherokee!:E

Regards,

Old Smokey

[Trogdor]

Great Lakes Airlines:

Captain: 4 Bars
FO: 3 Bars
FA: wait, we don't have those on the 1900.:\

Silver


Frontier Airlines:

Captain: 4 Bars
FO: 3 Bars
FA: 1 Bar

Silver except that the FA's are silver with purple borders.

[Mercenary Pilot]

Would I look silly climbing out of a PA28?

No, but you would look like a Tw@ :ok:

[aw8565]

Cheers.

Keep an eye out for me.... :ok:

[Mercenary Pilot]

lol

Okay will do....would you like a salute also? ;)

[Taikonaut]

Here in the US we keep things pretty simple,

4 - Captain
3 - FO/SO/FE

We don't do stars, curlycues, crowns, wreaths, animals, 1, 1-1/2, 2-1/2, 3-1/2 etc.

We don't salute each other (I know that some Asian carriers do), hell, some outfits don't even have hats...and that's in their contract.

Who really cares. It's just a frickin uniform. Who are you trying to impress? F/A's? flying pax? frontdesk clerks? cleaning ladies?...may be yourself in front of a mirror?:yuk:

It's the paycheck that counts. :ok:

PS - I've heard the same about the RMS Titanic emblematic red/ maroon stripes on some FE's stripes. Cool.

[morrisjuniornth]

Im alittle confused, I see from the thread that stripes are used in the commercial world, but in terms of training to be a private pilot (PPL) licence - is there a particular epaulette or 'stripe' that trainee pilots (non commercial) wear - i saw somewhere that its a single blue stripe for non commercial pilot (trainee) - is this the case? can anyone help clarify this? thanks SM

[ILS Repeater]

The true reson for epaulettes is to secure the chip on each shoulder during turbulence

[square leg]

1 stripe - used by Second Officers who can read
2 stripes - used by First Officers who can read & write
3 stripes - used by Senior First Officers who can read, write & calculate


4 stripes - used by Captains who know somebody who can read, write & calculate

Now we all know the truth.

Keep smiling!

[FREDAcheck]

If you are a commercial pilot, or a professional something or other, you may need to wear the uniform appropriate to your job. If you are a PPL, then rejoice in your freedom to wear what you want. If you feel the need to wear epaulettes, then that's part of your freedom. But I recommend wearing a jacket over the top, as some of your fellow PPLs may think you a bit of a t$sser.

[FullyFlapped]

I can't remember which Trevor Thom it was in, but I thought it was :

1 stripe - who cares ?
2 stripes - junior FO
3 stripes - senior FO
4 stripes - El Capitano
5 stripes - Captain having spent too long the night before with Mistress Whiplash
5 stripes plus red ring - see 5 stripes but went along to MW's with senior flight attendant ;)

FF :ok:

[S-Works]

I am going to have 69 gold bars along with some outriggers to support them. Going to where them on green grow bag under my leather flying jacket. I think I am also goint to have- Pilot: Bose-X stenciled under the side window.....

[Mercenary Pilot]

How about these bad-boys? :E

http://www.napoleon-series.org/images/military/organization/poles/polisharty5.jpg

[Maxflyer]

How about these bad-boys?
...my God! They've turned Dougal into a hairbrush. :eek:

[distaff_beancounter]

How about these bad-boys?

I want a pair! :)

But how do I attach them, plus 2 sets of 4 gold bars and, of course, a set of embroidered wings (at least 6 inches wide) to my usual PPL 'uniform' of teeshirt and jeans/shorts? :confused:

[airborne_artist]

But how do I attach them, plus 2 sets of 4 gold bars and, of course, a set of embroidered wings (at least 6 inches wide) to my usual PPL 'uniform' of teeshirt and jeans/shorts?

With velcro or safety pins.

[foxmoth]

Epaulettes are usefull as a PPL in some parts of the world (East and bits of Africa mainly), where they help get through the officialdom,probably why you see people like Polly Vacher wear them. Outside of these areas they just look stupid and are best left to those that are paid to wear them.:zzz:

[Panama Jack]

Agreed. In Latin America I know of a few PPL's who wear white shirts and bars on the shoulder to be able to get around the airport. Otherwise, makes it difficult.

At my present (Middle Eastern) airline:

1 bar is Second Officer
2 bars is Junior FO
3 bars is Senior FO
4 bars is Captain

The engineers have gold bars overlapping maroon on the normal dark blue epaulettes.

At many other airlines, anything less than 3 bars is cabin crew!

I find that anything less than 3 bars gets confusing to passengers. While deadheading, I've been asked if I am a flight steward, but the J-class passenger didn't ask me for a drink right away.

I find that wearing a big watch helps clarify to those who are not quite sure that I am a pilot.