View Full Version : Beards at BA?
Chippy Chuck
21st May 2001, 20:10
A strange question I know, but I'm a F/O at Chippy Fryer and now we're coming into British Airways, I wondered whether there was a policy on beards.
I have one and read another post (by 1.32 Vmd) that they're not allowed.
Anybody in the know?
Cheers.
Underdog
21st May 2001, 20:51
Beards are OK. Even CC are now allowed them - including the ladies!
Flying Crew Orders 2516:-
"The efficiency of an oxygen mask depends upon satisfactory sealing between the face and the mask. A beard will impair this efficiency and will increase the consumption of oxygen thus depleting the supply for all Flight Crew members. The wearing of beards is, therefore discouraged.
If worn, beards must be short, well trimmed and their style compatible with the design of oxygen mask on the aircraft for which the crew member is qualified."
Hope this helps.
ATB,
Underdog
Wig and Pen
21st May 2001, 22:16
That is, indeed, true.
There is however also a mention that "....cult fashions such as facial piercings, use of loud hair colourings, handlebar moustaches...etc. etc. ad infinutum" are not allowed.
This might seem irrelevant but I refer to goatees. Some senior pilots think of them as a cult fashion, so though a beard may be fine, a goatee could be completely unacceptable! I thought about growing one last year but in the end thought it not worth the hassle. Useless information but hope it helps.
What I don't understand is why goaties can be unacceptable but handlebar moustaches get a blind eye turned.
Amazing...
[This message has been edited by Wig and Pen (edited 21 May 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Wig and Pen (edited 21 May 2001).]
Although I have a beard, I think that a goatee only ever looks okay on a goat.
That "imperfect seal" around the O2 mask yarn is rubbish - we disproved it at Lockheed in the eighties when a much-needed instrumentation engineer refused to part with his full beard. We put him in a USAF altitude chamber and there was absolutely no truth to that myth.
The REAL reason they are dangerous, though, is that they can become saturated with pure O2 just before you yank off the mask and run through a fire to ground egress. If so - why do we keep the polyester uniforms, especially ties? A ready-made face torch.
Too bad beards are universally condemned here in US airlines - I had a good one when I flew corporate. It broke up the monotony of my face.....
airforcenone
22nd May 2001, 01:50
Just appeared in BA News this week, hosties are now allowed to wear, goatee beards! Wonder if this applies to the blokes as well?
1.32 Vmd
22nd May 2001, 02:37
Chippy Fryer
My mother always used to say that you should never trust a man with a beard - he's obviously got a great deal to hide. Do you think that BA should look into this matter, particularly with the emphasis of the importance of the customer having complete confidence?
Chippy Chuck
22nd May 2001, 13:14
An interesting suggestion by your mother, 1.32 Vmd.
Though I have nothing but the best intentions for BA at heart, there are some things in life I hold particularly close to my.....face. And my beard is one of them.
Sorry Mrs "1.32 Vmd", but if BA say the beard can stay; It stays.
Wig and Pen
22nd May 2001, 13:24
1.32 Vmd; I can only assume you don't, and never have had a beard.
I hope, also, that your comment about what your mum says was a joke. If not, it's time you started forming your own opinions and grew up.
Come on, 1.32 Vmd, act your age, you're a big boy now.
Positive Climb
22nd May 2001, 14:27
Wig & Pen - ever considered a 'sense of houmour' transplant ?
------------------
"After V1, we'll take the emergency into the air - You call 'Positive Climb' and I'll ask for the gear up. We'll climb away at V2 +15"
Hussar 54
22nd May 2001, 16:16
Met a BA MiniBus Captain once in Hanover about 3/4 years ago - looked as though he should have been Captain of a White Star four funneler rather than a Toulouse single aisler.
Had a beard which rather resembled that of the sailor who used to appear on the outside of Players cigarette packets. The wingspan was only marginally smaller than that of his airplane.
Any BA staff out there know who I'm talking about ?
1.32 Vmd
22nd May 2001, 16:20
Wig and Pen
I can only assume from your reply that you are indeed a closet goatee fancier. Come out of the closet and admit it!
gaunty
22nd May 2001, 16:32
Gadzooks
Hussar 54 I thought said hirsute appearance was de rigeur in the Imperial Airways, BOAC days when the Atlantic Baron ruled.
Whats the world coming to what?
Notso Fantastic
22nd May 2001, 18:16
Hussar- I met this guy in Geneva about 7 years ago, and in the Belgrano recently. He has retired now but flies privately. Slightly shortish, but very imposing- it's not often you see people suit a beard as well as that. Seemed to me the Captain of the Titanic should have looked like that, saluting as the water rose.........
The Guvnor
22nd May 2001, 20:23
Given BA's proud history (as Imperial/BOAC) of taking RAF and other Service types, how did they cope with their full set of whiskers (eg Capt O P Jones) or handlebars vis a vis O2 masks?
All sounds a bit PC to me! :) :) :)
What next for God's sake ? SANDALS !! Kaftans !!
capt waffoo
22nd May 2001, 20:36
I wonder what the EU Court of Human Rights would make of a company that tried to ban beards, cult fashions or body piercing?
And as a complete aside, I love Bob Monkhouse's observation on ponytails.
"They're exactly the same on a horse or a man, lift it up and you'll find an @rsehole underneath!"
Bless him!
Twistedfirefighter
23rd May 2001, 12:10
Most people seem to think that beards are "put on" by those that wear it. In fact this coudn't be further from the truth. Beards are part of your face and some people choose to shave, but that is exactly my point. So next time you see someone with a beard, he hasn't put on something on his face, the bloke without, has taken away something from HIS face!!!!!!