Shoulder bars?
 

Can someone please educate/inform me of the correct status of 1 to 4 stripes worn on the shoulder by pilots. No one can really tell me what each stripe means or when you are entitled to wear them as you progress through the licenses. I know alot of pilots think you are a w#*@er for wearing them but well that is their opinion?

Depends on the Company you are flying with / for.

As an employed pilot, you follow the Company uniform policy, which as a rule of thumb is usually something along the lines of
1 Bar = Junior Line Pilot or Copilot
2 = Regular Line Pilot
3 = Senior Base Pilot or Check & train
4 = Chief Pilot, CFI etc.

If you are working through a full-time pilot program with one of the Uni-style operators, they may also have a uniform policy, say
None = GFPT
1 = PPL
2 = CPL
3 = MECIR

Instructional schools also use the bars to recognise instructor grades,
1 = Gr 3
2 = Gr 2
3 = Gr 1
4 = CFI

If you are employed by a company without a uniform or uniform policy, I would recommend either wearing neat civvies or a plain white shirt with a mind to fire and sun protection (ie long sleeves / pants / decent shoes/boots).

If you are a private pilot wear civvies (with the same caveat as above) or folks will think you a bit odd.....


regards.

1= N/A
2= Second Officer
3= First Officer
4= Captain
4+Star= Chief Pilot

Quick test for the younger pilots out there - Why do Flight Engineers have three bars, with purple stripes between the bars?

QANTAS LAMEs have purple and gold bars is this because they
earn so much money there special washing machines discolor the gold.
and Cathay SOs have only one bar this is because they too earn so much money they only need one bar their hired help carries the other one for them.

I read somewhere that after the sinking of the Titanic, the King(of England) ordered all marine engineers to wear two gold strips on their shoulders in tribute to the engineers on the Titanic, all 150 or so went down with the ship. The Purple stripe signifies that it was a Royal decree.

In my airline:

Three Bars, First Officer, each bar means- I Do Everything.
Four Bars, Captain, each bar means- I Don`t Do Anything.

it started out as,

1 white bar... flight steward,
2 gold bars... first officer,
3 gold bars... domestic captain,
4 gold bars... international captain,

now it means nothing.:p

Nil defects....i like yours, but you've got the Captains one wrong.

starting from the outside it's

| do
|| what
||| i
|||| say

|||| not
||| what
|| I
| do

:D :D :D ;)

1 bar = Commercial student (from 0 hrs to CPL)
2 bars = CPL and employed as grade 3 and also grade 2 instructor
3 bars = grade 1 or higher (the CFI wears 3 bars)

I wear civvies when flying privately, and my uniform (one bar)when at ground school or CPL navs with instructor.

rgds
fnb

A jolly good hand-shake to Ozgrade3 - Yes, the purple bars are to remembe the engineers that went down with the Titanic. They stayed at their station while the ship sank, to give the passengers a better chance of getting off.

Hijacked!!!
 

I was working for a Reception centre about 10 years ago. One of the other waiters turned up for her shift wearing blue slaks, short sleve white shirt and slides with two gold bars. I asked her if she was a CPL or doing an instructor rating or simillar. Nope.......she was working part time on a river cruise boat on the Yarra River!!!

Embarrassing???

I flew a charter once where I was invited to come into town with my pax and spend the time with them at their function. During the post function nibblies, I was asked (by one of the patrons) which one of the coach busses I drove............OMG!!!......how embarrashment!!!!!...........

Our beloved shoulder bars have been hijacked!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.................................H.:cool:

In the merchant marine the epaulettes were colloquially called "rat-guards". The engineers were gold braid with purple, Chief Steward wore braid with white. Deck officers wore braid on black with no colour trim.

The oddest of the lot were those worn by the Electrical Engineer...two braid bars with green felt. These were identical to those worn by the Radio Officer (who could add a third bar if he had over 7 years service) and as a result those two officers could not be told apart by their epaulettes, an anomlay which remained until both officers were made redundant, removing them from the industry.

All a bit academic now because merchant marine just about all handed over to third world uncertificated seafarers now, with some notable exceptions.:rolleyes:

A little tip guys dont wear your bars anywhere you can be mistaken for a bus driver. Embarassing

and if your going to the shops on the way home, don't forget to take them off or you'll be mistaken for a security guard (aka toilet direction assistant)

And what companies have policies about wearing bars in public, to and from work?

Personally as I walk out of the door, the bars are off.

Ozgrade , how very royal of you.....

You must be OHMS perhaps??????

Have you seen the Roulettes tavern at PF??

I walk in with my two bars, and waitresses wearing 4 bars outrank me! :)

What's going on there?

Are they are Captain's of service or something?

NATIT

When I was in PNG you never walked in to the Aero Club with your bars on. If you did you shouted the bar!
And no, I never got caught! Never even heard of anyone getting caught either.

Sophie Lee and her sex show a few years back said girls like to men in uniform with gold bars. The more gold the better!