Originally Posted by
Jim59
Why do commercial pilots wear gold bars? Don't they know which seat to sit in without counting the bars on their shoulders? Presumably it is to impress passengers. Test pilots seem to manage without them.
It's not the military background but rather the maritime.
We had air-ships in the beginning.
Captains uniform, first mate and so on.
Navigation lights are a straight copy from ships as is the Captains position, left side of the bridge.
And yes I've ruined many a pair of decent pants flying the almighty Aztec with its self lubricating wings.
In the heartland of Florida I had a Turkish PPL student show up once in a flightsuit and badges from his (real) F16 pilot buddy who was there to "mentor" his progress.
He wore it for three days while I was in shorts and Tshirt when he decided he was maybe slightly overdressed and it would be more appropriate to wear something different.
Did a rental checkout once in a brand new C182 and the guy showed up with in a growbag with his helmet as he "couldn't be bothered to take his headset out" and he "was used to it anyway" as he had his own Extra 300.
Oh dear.....