The Hats are a joke...get rid of them. As for the studies that the public wants them so that we look safer....bullocks! No such study exists. If that was the case we would all be wearing long sleeve shirts and our jackets all year round, plus I would be addressed as "Captain" in public or on the flight deck !

I can tell you now that the only place you will see cx crew with hats is in HKG, because of the dreaded hat police. On the out port they sit in the the nav bag.

The fact that we are "Degrading" our profession is also rubbish. I heard the same thing when all of a sudden you were getting Captains that were in their 30's and 40's and not in their 50's. The public is not going to feel safe flying with such a young crew...bullocks!

I say it again the hats are a wast of time and money and the public will not even notice when they do go!

Bravo Frogman,:D spoken like Michael O Leary...same grace insight and dignity. You are exactly the type of guy he needs. If you have access to a EU passport he would take you on as Chief Pilot and you can put them all in nylon shorts and t-shirts, paid for by the "goons" themselves.

Of course he may also allow you work part time to in Mac Donalds in those uniforms serving up the Bullocks you seem to like so much....
:ugh:

Airline Pilot on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/symmetry_mind/2409296789/


Now thats the look we should all strive for.

What's with the obsession for hats??? Why even make an issue out of it? Many airlines do have hats as part of the uniform, but don't make a big fuss about wearing them. If you like it you can wear it and if you don't like it you don't wear it. As someone pointed out the hat can be of some use in an emergency for crowd control purposes, so having it in your bag just in case is not a big effort...

As far as everyday work goes, hats is NOT what makes a pilot professional. I would even claim that the ones who make the hat a big issue are the ones who have lost themselves on a sidetrack and don't remember what the job is all about. Complaining about a colleague not wearing a hat is not professional. There should be more important things to think about. And if there are not - well then it's a sad thing for the whole profession.

Not wearing a hat is not what reduces the respect for our profession. Making it a big issue is.

So once again we have the complainers who join knowing the uniform has a hat and want to change the system. Suppose they want to be able to show off their cool shades and bald heads / hairstyles cause that is wot a real pilot is these days. If you don't like it don't take the money!:ugh::ugh:

Question: How do you make a First Officer wear his hat ?

Answer: Give him a Command.

i think that i might be able to sum up the great hat debate, by quoting the great...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

:zzz:

I worry about people in aviation who talk about such trivial issues and elevate them to such high importance. Someone who is obsessed with such obscurity does not give me any confidence at all. Professionalism comes from learning your craft and then being able to competently carry out your duties to a high standard with a great deal of common sense thrown in. The key word being learning. I agree with wearing a uniform and that people should at least look neat and tidy. Whether there was a study or not, the public, on balance, would have some preconceived ideas about the way people look and dress and make judgements. It's how we are programmed in modern days. The unfortunate thing about that is, that the uniform, looking all similar, does not and should not become the metric of the intelligence that resides in it. Those of us in aviation who constantly rely on books to tell us what to do, a bureaucratic approach to flying, are the real concern. It was mention in a previous post about dumbing down of the uniform, I would suggest it's pilots who are being dumbed down by overly prescriptive and constantly changing SOP's (which is a danger in itself) not the status of the uniform. If you live by the rules you will die by the rules. Don't get me wrong SOP's are an important operational safety tool, however, there are a few incidents, that one can point to, that highlight quite well, that there is something more to aviation than any book or set of rules can give you. Furthermore, if you have 1500 pilots all reading the same thing, then you have potentially 1500 interpretations. But this is a whole new subject dealing with how adults learn and adult education which we do very poorly in the airline industry.

By the way if you are going to argue a position that the uniform maketh the pilot it would be prudent to at least source uniforms from professional tailors. The last uniform I received look so bad I threw it away and went and bought my own so I would look, funny enough, more professional.

Cheers :ok:

Don't think Don't think

If I'm not wrong it it is impolite to wear a hat inside,:=(Take note Cathay staff you are beneath the non hat wearers)

Also unsafe to wear it during the walk around particularly during wind and I never stand around in public in a uniform so where do I wear it???

By the way I believe the new evac drill has a bendy stick with a flag on top for the captain, to be used in a evacuation as the locals when abroad will follow one blindly:ok:

I was asked to wear my hat and jacket to bed by a young lady from head office. It made and evil looking shadow and I felt stupid- but never as stupid as wearing the cheap, ill-fitting thing in the first place.

Way to go And Then! :ok: Next time SHE should wear it. I recommend taking a picture as well - I have a few, very cute!

I tried that T101. She had short hair and I thought I was in bed with a cadet. :yuk: