Is it acceptable or appropriate for PPLs to wear 1 gold bar if on commercial career path or otherwise? Rumour has it that PPL = 1 bar, CPL = 2 bars, CPL+IR = 3 bars - is this true? Anybody heard of this?

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ght=epaulettes
Before anyone else does, I'll suggest you try the Search function and you'll see what a can of wormy epaulettes you're opening. The above link is your starter for ten.....

No. If you even have to ask.....

Only in the privacy of your own bedroom in front of the mirror.............
Anywhere else risks a chorus of 't*sser'
Safe and understated flying
Cusco.

Good god, not this again.... Simple answer. NO!

You'll look like a muppet. Bars are awarded, not just bought and worn.

Just to explain what the bars mean.
2 bars = First Officer.
3 bars = Senior F/O.
4 bars = Captain.

The fact that you asked means you've probably contemplated it.

Sad Ba$tard! Consider this - why don't professionals who fly for fun wear their bars / uniforms down the local flying club - because they don't want to look like complete tools.

There was a time when you could pick up a chestful of gongs in the local second hand shop. You might still find a Good Conduct and General Service. Pin 'em on and award yourself another bar while you're at it. But don't overdo it - the CG of your C172 may move a bit far forward!

Sometimes I'm very glad to be earthbound.

how about a feather in your cap ?, comes from a bird, most of which can also fly

CC

I think you peaked too early there by letting the other thread slip. I was looking forward to doing it all again.

Can I take it from the forthright nature of the above answers that no-one else felt like having another gold bars/wings thread?

How about pink headsets?

Seeing an Oxford Ingtegrated student with bars often leads to the below

Very true! You can, of course, wear the bars if you want, and as a ppl you write your solo hours in the "captain" column of your logbook that is bulging with tens of hours!, so whats wrong with 4 of them?

However, you would appear on a par with those that go to the pub wearing their airport ID or any other ID card for that matter as it makes them feel important.

Wearing gold bars on your shoulder at the flying club will not only get you suffering from urine extraction faster than a Bugatti Veyron accelerates, but will also lead most to form the opinion that you have an overinflated ego, or in other words link No1 in the accident chain!

It is pompous, egotisitical and a poor attempt at oneupmanship. Perhaps a sound display of airmanship is more appropriate, and despite all the long words, to$$er sums it up pretty well! Funny thing is, there are those that still do it!

All that said, nothing wrong with a nice, small, discreet set of wings!!!!!

Say again s l o w l y:
Awarded? Well, maybe by an employer. Look at it this way: in some jobs or training organisations, you have to wear a uniform. Nothing wrong with that. Commercial pilots, soldiers, traffic wardens, air hostesses...

If you are a private pilot you don't have to, and they have no significance. You can wear 38 bars if you like. Personally, I find a nurses uniform rather fetching.

I would have more respect for someone turning up at a flying school in a nurses uniform!

People are expected wear uniforms in certain jobs, but a PPL would only be wearing a uniform for ego purposes, not because they are required to. That isn't an attractive quality!

Morning all!

Dont we think that with a single post and an immediate disappearing trick our esteemed colleague 'Basin' might just conceivably be winding us all up!!

Anyway, I'm off to the gym now to build up the old biceps so I can lift my very heavy double stitched leather flying suit with fringe trim and 8 bars per shoulder cos i've got an hour booked in the sim later.

Xraf

When me and my mate did our FAA CPLs, we did it in shorts and T shirts - ocassionally Hawaiian shirts.

When he did is JARboy CPL he had to wear 2 stripes, shirt and trousers. He said that he felt like a right tool but it was good for pulling the girls He was going to get two sets of 4 stripes and sow them together and turn up wearing 8 bar epaulettes - but he feared that the humourless bstards would have thrown him out

...And no, I'd never wear epaulettes in a light aircraft unless it was a company rule and I was flying fare paying passengers.

Epaulettes are the cloth loops on 'pilot' shirts, over which the rank slides are attached.

Those who are not required to wear badges of rank for work should not do so - or stand accused of trying to pretend that they are something they are not.

If you want to look like some Ruritanian dictator, feel free. But you will just be laughed at.

I am going to get myself the full works to wear for my 50th birthday which will be a semi fancy dress thingy; at least 3 gold bars. So if anybody has a uniform they don't want (medium size, 43" waist/30" inside leg) drop me an email I am after a shirt, trousers, and the epaulletes of course. Plus a blue mini-skirt, size 8, for my girlfriend.

Even if one pays the Transair price, one can get it back if it works even once to get you a tankful of tax free avgas. I already carry an AIR BP card in the name of a (real) limited company and that usually works in Spain but I gather than in Barcelona one needs to wear the uniform as well. Everywhere else in Europe (except the UK) you can get tax free avgas by flashing a piece of paper with "AOC" on it; the BP card alone doesn't cut it.

2nd anniversary of the GST this Sunday. This thread and approaching date brings back fond memories of arrival back home from field.
It was my little boys third birthday and the house was full of kids and parents (lots of yummy mummies, but that's another story). I walk in the door to a barrage of p1ss taking of monumental proportions. I had not only kept my passtime a secret outside of my family, but only my wife knew about the GST. She however did not mind sharing this information with her friends after a glass or three of fizzy wine. What if I had failed I was then "presented" with a tatty "captains" hat which she had bought at the local charity shop.
After about two hours of this I went to the pub. My wife give me a kiss as I left and told me I was no longer allowed to bore her with talk of flying. I am pretty sure she would make me an appointment with the AME if I was to even consider wearing epaulettes.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ghlight=pprune
Tried to copy the picture of the PPRuNe Wings, but failed..

Epaulettes for PPLs??? Heh heh heh. Whatever next eh... flying overalls for when you're burning holes in the sky in a Cessna? D'oh.

Best leave the coveted Gold Bars to the professionals.