Real Cool Jock
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Real Cool Jock
Seen by passengers boarding a Virgin Blue flight the captain in the left seat wearing his red company baseball cap back to front Lleyton Hewitt style and reading a newspaper. How the game has changed from the old image of the stern looking steely eyed old git captain wearing a hat with scrambled eggs on the peak and a cowering yes sir, no sir co-pilot in the RH seat.[
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Well, I cant comment on the professionalism of the driver but the some of the things I hate seeing are:
1. Baseball caps on backwards (especially adults trying to look 20 years younger).
2. Pinky rings.
3. Chunky gold chains (especially if you're an ethnic with half of your chest unbuttoned in the process)
4. Pilots walking through airport terminals chewing gum and looking like a cow chewing the cud.
Just in my opinion its very unprofessional and it goes back to the old image thing but in no way can one assume anything about the relevant crews professionalism.
Image is important but you cant beat good old professionalism and common-sense.
I may be abit old fashioned and am starting to go grey but times are changing.
1. Baseball caps on backwards (especially adults trying to look 20 years younger).
2. Pinky rings.
3. Chunky gold chains (especially if you're an ethnic with half of your chest unbuttoned in the process)
4. Pilots walking through airport terminals chewing gum and looking like a cow chewing the cud.
Just in my opinion its very unprofessional and it goes back to the old image thing but in no way can one assume anything about the relevant crews professionalism.
Image is important but you cant beat good old professionalism and common-sense.
I may be abit old fashioned and am starting to go grey but times are changing.
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Hmm
There is a Worksafe issue here.
The cockpit is a pretty hazardous work environment in this context, being above most of the protective layer of the atmosphere and the glare off the cloud tops.
When I were but a lad and started wearing headsets in a bid to protect my hearing I was then, universally poo pooed as a you know what. My hearing now is not all that flash, at least thats whats mrs woomera says anyway.
The wearing of ANY sort of baseball cap ANY WAY, then was treated in the same manner, notwithstanding that it was a great help with glare and sun protection.
It took me a while longer to work out the solar hazards of short sleeves and shorts, apart from the fire issues.
As a side bar the cap did help keep the headset stable on my bonce.
Coolth is not an issue
Nowadays I would insist on the maximum protection of the cockpit crew possible as part of my duty of care responsibilities.
Having said that I think the glass in the modern aircraft effectively removes all of the harmfull ultraviolet, but not necessarily so in the GA environment.
I undertand a good test is whether your photochromics do their job as I think they require UV to do their trick??
Either way when I have a little trouble with my hearing and look at my spotty forearms, on which I expect eventually to see minor skin cancers, I wish I had been more aware.
There is a Worksafe issue here.
The cockpit is a pretty hazardous work environment in this context, being above most of the protective layer of the atmosphere and the glare off the cloud tops.
When I were but a lad and started wearing headsets in a bid to protect my hearing I was then, universally poo pooed as a you know what. My hearing now is not all that flash, at least thats whats mrs woomera says anyway.
The wearing of ANY sort of baseball cap ANY WAY, then was treated in the same manner, notwithstanding that it was a great help with glare and sun protection.
It took me a while longer to work out the solar hazards of short sleeves and shorts, apart from the fire issues.
As a side bar the cap did help keep the headset stable on my bonce.
Coolth is not an issue
Nowadays I would insist on the maximum protection of the cockpit crew possible as part of my duty of care responsibilities.
Having said that I think the glass in the modern aircraft effectively removes all of the harmfull ultraviolet, but not necessarily so in the GA environment.
I undertand a good test is whether your photochromics do their job as I think they require UV to do their trick??
Either way when I have a little trouble with my hearing and look at my spotty forearms, on which I expect eventually to see minor skin cancers, I wish I had been more aware.
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Baseball hats were a very effective tool for keeping the sun off the often follicly challenged heads of some of the old Captains I flew with. Newspapers, in my opinion, are OK in the cruise but pretty ordinary at the aero-bridge!!
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Boeing Belly
I agree the pax take a great interest in what's going on when they can see into the cockpit.
Seeing your comment re newspapers in the cruise, brought back a memories of a nightmare multi sector flight, as a pax on an airline belonging to our northern neighbour, occupying a seat up the front of the cabin.
The door being open most of the time to enable continuous idle chat with the delectable FAs, I was able to observe the newspapers taped all over the windows to keep that pesky sun out until carefully peeled down around finals and for TO and restuck when the wheels went into the wells, sort of.
I would have been quite happy for them to be read at the aerobridge in the circumstances.
I agree the pax take a great interest in what's going on when they can see into the cockpit.
Seeing your comment re newspapers in the cruise, brought back a memories of a nightmare multi sector flight, as a pax on an airline belonging to our northern neighbour, occupying a seat up the front of the cabin.
The door being open most of the time to enable continuous idle chat with the delectable FAs, I was able to observe the newspapers taped all over the windows to keep that pesky sun out until carefully peeled down around finals and for TO and restuck when the wheels went into the wells, sort of.
I would have been quite happy for them to be read at the aerobridge in the circumstances.
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This issue of reading the newspaper while boarding was commented on last year by the chief pilot as being unacceptable.Maybe the cool captain wasn't around back then. Also, someone should tell him that the RED caps are for F/O's and the Captain gets a BLUE one.
Nunc est bibendum
A former AOPA President and QF 744 driver wouldn't even let you put up the shades installed in the aircraft on the numbers 2 and 3 windows on the 744 because 'you won't be able to see another aircraft coming towards us'. My response was that i wouldn't be able to see them either way due to having sun spots in my eyes! The berating that followed was worth the look of apoplexy on his face for the three seconds before he exploded.
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It would be pretty poor if you couldn't read the paper at work but it should be discrete.
Caps, well we are all bright enough to know how harmfull the sun can be.
Out with the old skippers & in with the new!!! 
Caps, well we are all bright enough to know how harmfull the sun can be.
Out with the old skippers & in with the new!!!
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If you as much as read anything but the flight manual in my day someone woulda nearly broken their legs post flight tearin across the tarmac to dob you in to bull**** castle.
When the BEA Trident hit another aircraft ( DC-9 ??) over ZAGREB, as was established in the accident investigation, crew members reading newspapers, and not looking out the window, was a probable contributor to the collision.
Even in Australia airspace, there have been a number of near misses that would have been hits, if not for the good lookout of the crew, ( Lufthansa V. Qantas between Alice and Balgo Hill, Continental V. a Gulfstream of the NSW coast are just two that come to mind) and it is hardly a “professional” attitude to bag the idea of a good lookout, that’s what see and avoid is all about, and don’t forget the number of collisions IN controlled airspace in Australia.
I note Keg’s post with some interest, Qantas has survived operating in every airspace environment devised since 1921, and quite successfully, the Captain you mentioned well knew, understood and accepted the need for using every resource available, including a good lookout, to minimize risk, and demanded the same from his crew.
As for your sunspots, Keg, did you get them from the Classic 747 Classic, the 767, or the early 744, that did not have the pull up/down side shades.
I really do suggests, in the interest of the safety of your aircraft and other crew and passengers, that your keep your vision unobstructed, in other word’s arrange your affairs to maximize the safety of your operation, and put your own immediate comfort well down the list of priorities.
And perhaps have a look at the Qantas policy manuals, all of them, there is some good advice there, and it ain't optional for Qantas crews.
Tootle pip!!
Even in Australia airspace, there have been a number of near misses that would have been hits, if not for the good lookout of the crew, ( Lufthansa V. Qantas between Alice and Balgo Hill, Continental V. a Gulfstream of the NSW coast are just two that come to mind) and it is hardly a “professional” attitude to bag the idea of a good lookout, that’s what see and avoid is all about, and don’t forget the number of collisions IN controlled airspace in Australia.
I note Keg’s post with some interest, Qantas has survived operating in every airspace environment devised since 1921, and quite successfully, the Captain you mentioned well knew, understood and accepted the need for using every resource available, including a good lookout, to minimize risk, and demanded the same from his crew.
As for your sunspots, Keg, did you get them from the Classic 747 Classic, the 767, or the early 744, that did not have the pull up/down side shades.
I really do suggests, in the interest of the safety of your aircraft and other crew and passengers, that your keep your vision unobstructed, in other word’s arrange your affairs to maximize the safety of your operation, and put your own immediate comfort well down the list of priorities.
And perhaps have a look at the Qantas policy manuals, all of them, there is some good advice there, and it ain't optional for Qantas crews.
Tootle pip!!
Thread Starter
Wonderworld. You have me intrigued. How did the trend of the reverse wearing baseball cap start? Was it an Afro-American thing? Because it is now a world wide phenomenon.
Well you did ask. The story I have is that it first started in the gay community in the United States. There is no delicate way to put it really but picture a guy giving a blow job to another guy with a basball cap on the correct way. It kind of gets in the way, so they just turned it around and voila! a whole now trend is begun. Dont know if its really true but its such a delicious story I'm sticking to it. You shoud see the looks on the faces of guys who do wear the baseball cap around the wrong way when you quietly tell them how it started!!!!
Nunc est bibendum
Not early model 744 Lead but still on the same machine. I've no problem with utilising every asset to avoid a problem but I find that at times, NOT using a shade when it is available (as was the case in 95 and or 96 over the pacific) can be detrimental to be able to see aircraft in the other 84% of windows available. Not sure also how I'm supposed to spot an aircraft from about four o'clock and low on the horizon which is where the sun was when this Captain (you!?!?) got stuck into me.
As for the rest, I recall being made to read an ICAO radio hand book on the flight deck. I sure as hell wasn't maintaining a good look at at that stage. Similar goes for a lot of S/Os who had their heads down in a Jepp chart trying to work out the pronunciation of some navaid in India or Pakistan that EVERYONE including the Indian and PAkistani ATC referred to as the three letter ident.
Geez, is a see through shade too much to ask for to dim the sun? Next thing you'll be telling me that sun glasses are a no no due to 'impairing the ability to see and avoid' Ironic too that we weren't allowed to keep bottles of water on the flight deck due to the 'risk' they posed in a rapid decompression but a bloody great big METAL deck log was OK!
Must be the GA virus I'm still infected with!
As for the rest, I recall being made to read an ICAO radio hand book on the flight deck. I sure as hell wasn't maintaining a good look at at that stage. Similar goes for a lot of S/Os who had their heads down in a Jepp chart trying to work out the pronunciation of some navaid in India or Pakistan that EVERYONE including the Indian and PAkistani ATC referred to as the three letter ident.
Geez, is a see through shade too much to ask for to dim the sun? Next thing you'll be telling me that sun glasses are a no no due to 'impairing the ability to see and avoid'
Ironic too that we weren't allowed to keep bottles of water on the flight deck due to the 'risk' they posed in a rapid decompression but a bloody great big METAL deck log was OK! Must be the GA virus I'm still infected with!
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Keg, I like your attitude.
Remember the hun in the sun. If you block the sun, but not the whole window, it allows better visibility. IT IS SAFER.
As to the petty QF captains that like to intimtidate their juniors, I'm hoping that they are retiring soon. Christ, I fly with guy's that most QF pilots think are incompetent, maybe even inappropriate racially, but they dont give **** to juniors.
By the way, we read newspapers as much as we can. It's the only way to keep attentive for 16 hours. My only concern is that I don't block the instruments.
Remember the hun in the sun. If you block the sun, but not the whole window, it allows better visibility. IT IS SAFER.
As to the petty QF captains that like to intimtidate their juniors, I'm hoping that they are retiring soon. Christ, I fly with guy's that most QF pilots think are incompetent, maybe even inappropriate racially, but they dont give **** to juniors.
By the way, we read newspapers as much as we can. It's the only way to keep attentive for 16 hours. My only concern is that I don't block the instruments.