I don't subscribe to the view that operating the sim in civvies, lowers performance. I sat in on a number of sim rides that our B727 crews did at United in Denver. (Even got to do to a few touch and goes which was magic stuff that would never be allowed today). It was quite normal when in a foreign city to not be wearing our military uniform and so rocking up for the sim in civvies was fine. The intensity of the sim is such that your focus is ensuring your own head space is good and that you turn out the goods in a professional manner, all the time only ever wanting to be thought of as the guy that the other guys on the squadron would be happy to fly with on a bad day. It made not one iota of difference if the guy next you was wearing his pyjamas! Like going to the dentist, the sim is a deliberately stressful place so if you can feel a bit more relaxed in civvies then I figure that's going to help not hinder.
But of course its the company's call if they want to mandate wearing of uniforms in the sim. But why would they? Air NZ's 'enclothed cognition' gives us a clue. While pitched at improving performance on the flight deck it is probably more about controlling behaviour in an otherwise non air side environment. You, know, once you slip that uniform on your standards are expected to represent company expectations...and you can be identified!! If you are wearing uniform there can be no grey area about whether you thought you were on your own time at that specific point. Given that standards of dress and behavior across society have generally slipped it's not surprising that some commercial aircrew look like they've slept in their uniforms, haven't washed or shaved, didn't bother to have a haircut so can hardly keep their hat on, shirt tails hanging out, lost their jacket somewhere and are wearing a pink jersey and that flight bag is now a ruck sack over one shoulder. Perhaps 'enclothed cognition' is long overdue for some airlines.
Sorry I can t stop there. Why the uniforms anyway? It seems that some in this thread show no pride in wearing them any way and given a choice, don't. In the the 1930's when Pan Am flew its flying boats and the first 'Clipper' names came about, dressing pilots in naval uniform with white Officers hats and navy rank, projected the image of professional seamanship more than airmanship, which was expected by passengers more familiar with boat captains than aircraft crews. The theme was picked up on and 80 years later almost every airline in the world still follows it with some even harking back to white hats. How's that working out for you Qantas guys anyway? Aviation has moved on so far from then. Airports, security and airlines are all about controlling the passenger and their expected behavior from the time they are dumped at the drop off zone until the time they depart the destination airport. I have been on flights where conveyor like processing in the windowless airports halls left me with no idea what the aircraft was that I had just boarded through the labyrinth of airport hallways, travelators and passage ways, and finally the constricted tunnels of the air bridge, let alone see the pilots encased in their castle upfront. They could have been in their jocks for all I knew..or cared.
Flying has lost it's glamour and the concept of having a 'naval officer', or 'skipper' flying our current leading edge aerospace technology seems a bit archaic and somewhat out of place. Perhaps some form of flying overalls (test pilot ish, not orange!!!) would be more appropriate for today's job, especially where interaction with passengers is only casual and occasional inside the airport? Don't get me wrong. I know there are a lot of guys and girls out there who wear their uniforms proudly and have aspired to be seen as such. They would hate to see uniforms replaced with a more purpose filled flying clothing or worse...corporate freaking tee-shirts!! Don' trust management with this...they will get it wrong! So yeah, this idea is just food for some lazy thought. But it would put paid to flip flops in the sim which one of our flight engineers was want to do. Then again, he wasn't pressing any pedals
.