I have flown in the far East, Africa and IMO dont even think about not wearing a uniform.

On one trip I had an Arabic co pilot who was not rated on the jet. The idea was to treat the trip as a training trip.

Once we landed and went out in the evening He turned up in full flying regalia just so he could get respect from his fellows.

A uniform is highly respected in those cultures!

I can remember on numerous occasions being embarrassed by Military personel saluting you. (do you salute back?) :)

You are in a totally different culture so wear the uniform even piloting a microlight unless you want to extend your groundtime X2 and get treated like rabble

Pace

Uniform and stripes are part of the culture in many southern countries and allow for quick transit through airports.

In Europe, dress has never been a problem. I always wear jeans, t-shirt and cap, and carry a scruffy bashed up flight bag. Never had problems going through airport controls and jumping waiting pax thanks to the AOPA Air Crew badge (great piece of plastic useful for getting hotel discounts too ;)).

Regarding attitude I had to laugh the other day. We were three club aeroplanes arriving from Bosnia with a stopover in Pescara onbound to Rome, two India and one Golf registered. ATC treated the two Indias speaking Italian as normal PPLs. Flying the Golf aeroplane I chose to speak English and got treated as a professional pilot with a "Sir" at the end of every transmission :)

Perhaps we could consider defining a uniform for those private fliers venturing into exotic skies?

-) must be clearly recognisable as a uniform. This excludes jeans and the like
-) a jacket and trousers seems the obvious basic concept, any alternatives?
-) would the ladies insist on skirts? and the jacket's buttons being the other way round?
-) anything on our heads?
-) shoes and socks imperative!
-) sunglasses almost as imperative
-) must be decent, i.e. the trousers full length, and if skirts also defined they must go below the knee.
-) be practical, i.e. light for the mostly hot climates involved, easy to wash and quick to dry
-) as a pilot's garments, lots of pockets are required
-) provisions for attaching stars/stripes as considered appropriate

I was thinking of lightweight Khaki trousers and a short sleeved white shirt to go with my stripes if I ever make it into Sudan :p Stripes can be removed well before landing anywhere else, to minimise the risk of bose-x's head exploding!

What you really need is one of these

AV Eight Luxury Accessories

In africa you can wear what you like, Just have a shirt with bars attached to it and you will be fine.

Most of the guys I saw had kaki shorts with kaki shirt with bars on and dripping wet armpits.

These limited pieces are exclusively for those deserving of the right to display the four gold bands and the quality reflects the measure of such an achievement exquisitely.

That's hilarious.

Good grief!
I have enough difficulty climbing in and out of the Cub in trousers and t shirt, never mind a skirt. And how do I strap on the kneeboard in a skirt? Plastic bag for the maps and headsets does fine thanks. Oh, and I don't think zips are handed on overalls, which provide pockets for pencils and suchlike, plus a backpack for walking to the pub. Cheapskate, see, don't do taxis.....

Well you could use a sporran.

http://www.thekiltstore.com/images/-...%20sporran.jpg

Although you might have a few probs getting through security.

And the pinkster used to fly in a skirt alot, she just used to hike it up for the kneeboard. Thankfully she had pretty good legs that would make alot of young burds jealouse so it wasn't really a hardship.

Love the sporran! BTW, does anyone else find it entirely silly going through the metal detector to get to one's own aeroplane? That's even stupider when they then have to let the plug spanner and pliers, stanley knife, pickets, flares etc, etc through.
And how many people so far have hijacked a 60 year old two seater that flies so slowly it has a rear view mirror? I mean, if I crashed it into a nuclear power station I wouldn't even break their windows.....

Are we discussing an aircraft type or a pilot type?

Well, Mad Jock, I am a bit younger than the aircraft, and only have one bum. I fly at the same speed as the aircraft though......If you would like to hijack the pilot please supply a photo of your aircraft and hangar :E

Does that Sporran go pointy side in or out?

Well, shorts like this would certainly get them noticed in some parts of the world:


(and yes, I do have the rest of the photo, no, it isn't the Pink One and no, you aren't going to see it!)

If that's your co-pilot, it's good to know you are keeping in good shape ;)

MadJock, I always wonder who buys things from organisations such as AV Eight - I'm not sure how keen I am to insert my finger into either the Captain or engineers ring.:ooh:

Unfortuantely Piper I have only logged 40 hours on a Cougars (GA7's) and that was many years ago now, so long my rating has drop off.

As for my current ride unfortuantely no hanger and she has a habit of leaking from the most unexpected places. But she does have 3300 shaft horse power and handles like a dream, especially when dirty with the rpm's up.

I know what you mean I always shudder when I see an engineer adjusting his own ring on the apron.

I must admit I had a wee bit of yip pee when I thought they might have a wanky license holder instead of my plastic thing. But unfortunately they didn't have a ostrich skin license holder

Not sure if I should say this after the previous comment but I think the
Engineers ring looks better :oh:

life has come to a pretty pass when you find yourself admiring the engineers ring.:rolleyes:

:D:D:D:ok:

How about some medals as well? That's bound to impress somebody!

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