Death and dismemberment
Gents, and all others,
I used to not wear my hat simply as an act of rebellion. In the depth of Scandinavian and North American winter I wore it to and from the car park because it was bloody cold.
I constantly got a bollocking for not wearing my hat by ex-Air Force Captains, and continously ran the risk of having a letter placed in my file by our pet-peevish Chief Pilot.
One day many moons ago I had a rebellious hat discussion with a colleague at a fellow airline. He said that he always wore his hat. It was for only one reason. He got sick of spending valuable time thinking about the hat issue. If individual airline regulations say that you must wear a hat, then simply wear the hat. I spend my time thinking of pretty girls and fast cars instead of thinking about hat issues.
However, there's a more grave issue at hand. Every time I step onto the tarmac for a walk around I put my life and limbs at risk. I've stopped counting the times I was almost run over by a service vehicle driven by some half-wit from a far flung country where the concept of personal safety seems all but forgotten. Every so often I read about some poor soul who ended his career, or his life, in such a violent manner.
Therefore, when I do my walk around, I use my jacket, with lots of shiny gold bars, my ridiculously tall hat, with an equally ridiculous amount of gold on the the brim, and a high visibility vest (which happens to be regulation many places). I do this in hope that some dimwit will pay attention to my existence, and possibly realise that there's a pilot walking around, and maybe, possibly, perhaps, take that extra step of caution, so not to run me over.
Regardless, it's worth the small effort. It's also compatible with company regs, and keeps me away from wasting any of my limited mental resources on such a lame issue as weather to wear a hat or not.