stripes don't always work....
 

A little anecdote: a few years ago on one of my sorties to Morocco flew to Marrakech. Upon departure (early morning), arrived at airport to find complete mayhem. Crew have (or at least had at the time) to go through same security screening as pax. Found an official, explained I needed to get to my a/c and had no intention of waiting. Said official steered us (myself and a friend) past the huddled masses right through the x-ray scanner - past a BA crew who were standing there in their uniform finest !

Both of us were dressed in what could best be described as 'bush-pilot chic', cargoes and beat-up flight jacket. You should've seen the look on the BA captains face :E

Btw, no 'baksheesh' involved.

I think you're find they're given the respect they deserve at most airfields in the UK.

A friend of mine was arrested when he left the house without his uniform whilst working in Africa.
He wasn't working that day but it was expected that he still wear his uniform!

Slight thread creep but....

As a young copilot in the 80's before terrorism had influenced British aviation, I was back in the passenger cabin of a Boeing in cruise attempting to calm down a frightened female passenger. I was thinking of inviting her to see the flight deck as it sometimes helped.

Back then flight movie technology was primitive, (remember those big banjo film cassettes?) and the headsets were little more than stethoscopes, just hollow tubes and the earpieces hurt your ears. No individual screens just a large fold down one at the front and mid cabin. I must have been blocking the view because from about 5 rows behind with megaphone strength a voice shouted

"OY! YOU WITH THE STRIPES, MOVE YER F**KIN' HEAD.

I seem to remember they were gold then, not that the colour would have made any difference but hopefully your ground officials in Egypt and Sudan will have more respect for your stripes Katamarino! Good luck it sounds an interesting trip.

Katamarino, regarding gold vs. silver, in some countries/airlines, gold is used for flight crew and silver for all the rest (cabin crew, gate agents, etc.).

I'm reminded of a time when as a moderately junior boffin at Boscombe Down I was sat opposite a middle aged gent who appeared to be a Captain RN (blue jersey, four gold bars), and thus was being particularly polite and calling him sir.

Half way through lunch in the mess it finally dawned upon me that this character was the PA31 air-ferry pilot from BAe, just eating lunch while his boffins talked to our boffins, so that he could fly them home.

What's the penalty for impersonating a Captain RN ?



In the meantime, I bought a set of gold bars when I got my CPL, in case they ever came in useful. So far, they haven't, and are still somewhere in the bottom of my flight bag. I never got as far as buying the flammable polycotton white shirt, but might if I have occasion to fly in some parts of the world.

G

Some companies use silver for the flight crew but I think they might be the ones with a historical connection to British Airways. As for number of stripes two is for a first officer, three for a senior first officer and four for a captain. It has nothing to do with class of license held. You can go on regarding cabin crew and colours but I think you might find that gets into bars of different thickness.

A dickie and gold bars at a popular event next w/e would probably attract more attention than the latest plastic fantastic. :)

In my flight school you don't get gold bars till you have finished

first solo = blank epaulettes
PPL = one blue bar
CPL = another blue bar
IR = another blue bar
Completed diploma = add a gold bar

then if you get an instructor rating they take all your blue bars of off you and you just have a gold bar. B-cat instructor has 2 gold bar and A cat has 3. Chief pilot can get away without wearing his gaybars (lucky him)

It makes more sense than getting gold bars as soon as you go solo!

This should do the trick:
 

Might be more interesting to try and tie the gold bars into a bow tie?

G

I would not worry about it, have spent a lot of time flying in Africa single pilot stuff in a little twin turboprop and usually wore jeans and a t-shirt. Never once had any trouble that some stripes would have sorted out. Be polite and big up their ego letting them know you are thankful for their favors and you will be fine. If you have the attitude that I am the captain and I demand you let me do so and so there are not enough stripes in the world that can help unless of course they are actually solid gold then you can pretty much do what you want in Africa.

Genghis
Royal Navy officers' gold bars have a loop on the top one, almost like Customs Officers.

I think that remembering that was about the point I stopped calling him 'Sir'.

G

Hmnn... If you really want respect then get hold of a genuine set of Flight Engineers stripes. They are very rare and must be threadbare with oil stains... three gold bars with thin red dividers. For total authenticity an airline cap stained with skydrol, and a large metal torch complete the rig. In many far flung parts of the Empire such a person was regarded as a god by aircraft mechanics. :cool:

Everybody I know who actually flies down to Africa regularly nowadays (probably nobody who has posted so far) says that a pilot uniform works wonders.

Not that I would suggest getting a white nylon shirt from a N European pilot shop; you will smell worse than a pig in the heat down there.

It is nothing to do with impersonating an ATP. It's just that in those countries the people are used to blindly obeying authority, and uniform=authority. So it lubricates the process, so to speak.

That's interesting, when I used to travel in India (going back a couple of decades) I found the opposite. India is also highly structured in terms of authority, but they also tended to be very jobs-worth, doing things by the book. Trying to show authority got you no where. But putting on your best English accent, always being polite and respectful, and addressing everyone in authority at "Sir", and they melted. Doors opened, and I got access to places only maharajahs could normally see, places on fully booked flights that also had a waiting list of 50, places in the directors' car on trains... And I watched people showing authority saying "Do you know who I am?" getting refused everything.

Presumably Africa isn't the same!

PS -
IO, are you speaking from personal experience here? I'm not doubting you, but some of the posts here (from any point of view) seem to be mainly anecdotal and second-hand accounts.

Just seen this Thread Title and my heart missed a beat as I like to see uniform stripes.

My mistake :O

Sir George Cayley

Not personal experience. I did plan to go down to Luxor (like the OP) a while ago but gave up after the Egyptian aviation ministry gave me the run-around. Now I know that practically everybody going down there uses an agent to book the whole lot.

I know (personally, face to face) people who do go down there, and that is their story.

Sadly I also hear some appalling stories of mandatory bribery.

I would not think Luxor is a big deal. One can fly there direct from Sitia in Crete (or from Rhodos) and they do apparently have avgas, so provided one can verify the avgas it should work OK (with an overflight agent). Quite a lot of European pilots fly down to Luxor.

How Many Stripes
 

You can always do I've seen Geoffrey Boot do. (races a SF260). Four on one side and three on the other