I'd say that for any sort of commercial venture, whether it be flying sightseeing trips, or air taxi etc, then it is ok for the pilot to wear a couple of gold bars. Maybe it'd make their passengers feel more confident in their ability, and possiblility make the company look more professional. However for a PPL, it is a bit sad, and makes you look a !!!!.

From what I've seen no self respecting PPL in their right mind would dream of dressing in gold stripes and shirts with a pair of wings on. Now shorts and a Hawaiian shirt on the other hand....:)

EA

Would an air taxi operation in, say, a Seneca, come under "general aviation" or not??

In the States that operation would come under Part 135 (carrying passengers or freight for hire), so not GA which is generally considered to be Part 91. You can fly a 737 under part 91, happens all the time, and so has nothing to do with weight of aircraft.

Should that Seneca pilot wear bars whilst carrying pasengers

When I was messing around in Part 135 world, we would wear whatever was suitable for the climate, though if the flight had paying passengers we would dress appropriately. Trousers, shirts and smart (appropriate) shoes would be usual. If we thought a tie was needed we would wear a tie, but in the West it would not be often. Even the "poshest" punters would not expect a tie, go to the swank restaurants in the West USA and see how many people are wearing a tie.

Bars? - yeh right!!

When instructing, we would wear sensible shoes (clean sneakers), smart sensible trousers or tailored shorts, and the 'company golf shirt'. You should aim to be smarter than the customer, but never ever ever mention the customer's dress code.

Actually the only time an FBO/Flying School employee (a truly hot shot instructor) mentioned my clothes to me was before an aerobatics lesson. He told me to go change my smart shoes for some scruffy and comfortable sneakers which would not slip off the rudders.

stiknruda is correct in the only time GA pilots need to be aware of what you wear is when you are upside down or pulling several g.

Once upon a time,... I worked for Europe's best pilot shop (not my words) and met a guy in the shop who was travelling rather a lot on jumbo's and loved having his picture taken with the crew.
The funny thing is that he also loved wearing the full uniform for the picture so never travelled without wearing one (4 bars, jacket and shiny shoes).
He actually showed us a photo where you can see the F/O in the background who is about to burst laughing :D :D

I tell you in this shop I have seen quite a few professional microsoft pilots and some really are funny. No doubt they wore the full outfit when the "fly" the 74.

Gonewest,
If the company stipulates that you wear bars, tie and a hat, then you wear it....
I used to feel a tad foolish getting out of the C207 in the bush with the "full uniform" on. ie I mean the wings, bars (we called them ****-er bars) etc. Fortunately we were north of the 26th parallel (South) so a tie wasn't necessary.
However, getting out of a Dash 8 with the bars, wings, tie and hat didn't feel so bad. ;)

For private flying, I just wore what was comfortable. (Although, I have flown a plane naked. Should I have drawn a tie on?)

After reading this popular and amusing topic on dress code for flying.........I'd like to know if there are any major airline carriers who's pilots uniforms don't sport gold or silver stripes and a peaked cap, after all this is 2002 and many legal eagles, although a different proffesion, are starting to ditch the old wigs and gowns.
Regards
LPL

Whirlybird:

When a woman gets out of an aircraft if she wears nothing, that would divert the question about the flying part.:D :D :D

Cat Driver:

.................
:D The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no.:D

I don't know about "major airlines"
However, NJS's Dash 8 operation in northern Australia used to wear RM Williams beige moleskins with a ochre coloured shirt. Akubras were the hat of choice. I thought they looked great and much better than the blue and whites.
The uniform of the Child flight (I think??) helo pilots consisted of blue trousers and a denim shirt with "Child flight" embroidered on them. Again, smart and suited the operation.

Unfortunately, I can't see many airlines going away from the traditional look. Some don't have hats though. The public just like to be "reassured" I think.

Gloves
 

Final 3 Greens

I used to get sweaty palms too, so I wore a golf glove on my left hand, nothing on the right. Didn't tell anyone though in case they laughed :)

Give us the gory details, Reddo......

If the inadequately-testiculated get all moist by wearing the uniform of some Ruritanian Grand Admiral complete with dangly gold string on the shoulders, rabbit fur collar, long silk gloves and a dead chicken hat then just let the poor saps fulfil their fantasies if it keeps them happy!

Perhaps marginally more appropriate then the Irvin jacket once worn by someone in an Aerobat..............

LPL

"Many legal Eagles are starting to ditch the wig and gown"

Are they? An interesting suggestion because at the moment we have no choice in the matter. Wigs and gowns have not been abolished and therefore we have no option but to wear them. If I decided to ditch mine I would get very short shrift because it is still mandatory "uniform" in court. As it happens most of us are in favour of retaing wigs and gowns because they imbue a degree of anonimity which enables us to carry out our role without being seen as an individual .

As far as flying is concerned I often wear a flying suit whilst flying open cockpit or aerobatic aircraft because of the convenience of having everything contained within the pockets. I wouldn't dream of wearing such a suit if flying a spamcan (although many, many years ago we did wear the full kit including life jacket and bone dome whilst flying UAS Bulldogs). As to gloves I have to admit to still being attached to my old cape leathers particularly for the walk round and because I am so used to wearing them.

Did know a chap in the RAF who had "left" and "right" written on the back of his gloves after a slight misunderstanding with a vacation instruction from ATC. Now he's flying for BA I wonder whether he still flies wearing gloves.

Flicking through the AFE catalogue included with the PFA mag at the rally yesterday, I had to smirk when I came across their 5-bars designed for those who want to take the p*** out of those 4-bar captain's at their flight club.

:D

BP

I think the full-on pilot outfit has its place. When doing a mates wedding the other weekend, I 'borrowed' a blue jersey and some four-stripers and also some exceptionally shiny shoes. Really looked the part for the photos.

I suppose there is a side-effect of instilling confidence in your passengers. I mean, would you prefer to fly with a single striper or a four striper at the controls?

Or to put it another way, when you go in MacDonalds - do you prefer to get served by the bloke with 5 stars , or Johnny No-Stars...?

;)

Wearing clothes which make you look like an instructor (blue trousers and a white shirt, for example) can mean you can pretend you're a training flight and get a discount on landing fees. I've not tried it, but apparently it works at Wolverhampton! I usually wear somthing that I don't mind getting oil and grass over and won't burst into flames if there's a cockpit fire. I suppose leather gloves would be useful here, but I've never worn them.

OK, I fly a verity of aircraft from aerobatic through gliders to spamcans. I usually wear a flying suit. If this makes me a sad weirdo then so be it.

In the suit are the necessary paraphernalia to break a jammed canopy and thus survive a crash.

To cut my straps if they are jammed and thus survive a crash.

It has a degree of fire resistance, so I may maintain control of a burning aircraft for long enough to survive a crash.

I do not mind lying on the ground under the aircraft to give it a through DI, which helps, avoid having a crash.

I never fly with lose articles, as you never know when you might meet someone coming the other way and end up in an extreme unusual attitude avoiding them.

If I end up in the water, I have a verity of things, which will help me survive the ditching, and the suit is better than jeans for surviving from hypothermia.

It contains a basic tool kit which I have used on many occasions to stick the A/C back together to get home from deserted farm strips in some very remote locations in Scotland.

If I visit a “posh” airfield I take the suit off and leave it in the a/c. I have normal clothes on underneath; I can vanish into the crowd whenever I like!

To me this is just as sensible as practicing stalls and PFL’s. They all make it more likely that I will survive an emergency.

I had better put the suit on quick to avoid the flames:)

Rod

The wearing of gloves and overalls seems to one of the few emninently sensible militaryisms that have crept into civil aviation, in event of a fire in the cockpit they afford protection which you may be very grateful for at a later date.

As for uniforms, bars and stripes............ :rolleyes:

I was a genuine 'only for prats' sort of guy until I started to fly the Tiger Moth and Chipmunk. In the Tiger flying suit, goggles, and white leather gloves are a practicaility for comfort, warmth, and digt articulation. In the Chipmunk (mine at least) you need something overall like to collect the oil the engine throws out.
I know this post was about bars etc. but often it all gets lumped into the one by those with the benign environment of a C152 or PA28 cabin.

Well I remember a thread about a year or so ago about the famous TV-presenting aviator Brendan O'Brien. It went on about the fact that even when he was on location at the spotter's gallery at LHR he was still wearing his flying jacket and life vest! But some organisations want their piloting staff to have that professional look, such as FTO's and Air Taxi companies. The producers of 'Flightline' obviously wanted to make sure the viewers realised that he is a professional pilot and knows what he is talking about when it comes to aviation. It also provides a good image for the show.

On the other hand, back in my PPL training days (erm, last year!) I was at the flight school preparing for a lesson when a lapsed-PPL holder walked in, with full commercial pilots apparel, and even had one of those 'PPL' wings badges from Transair hand-stitched onto his Jumper. He had only come down for a trial lesson with his family to see whether or not he wanted to re-validate his PPL after all those years. One of the instructors commented that he was wearing two stripes more than himself! He had 4 stripes.

And flying jackets- I don't think that they should be knocked. Plenty of non-pilots wear them, so why shoulden't a real pilot?

Regards Trislander

Flying Suits

I would like to amend some of my previous posts, if I had inadvertently denegrated those who wear flying-suits, when flying REAL aircraft, such as classic taildraggers, open cock pits, & aerobatic beasties.

For those aircraft, a flying suit is sensible, practical AND looks correct.

IMHO, a flying-suit, especiailly with 4 gold bars, just looks a tad over the top in a C172, PA28 etc. :D

I'm always slightly amused watching people wearing full immersion suits climbing into a PA-28 for the hop to Sandown or Bembridge. Lifejackets I agree with, but it is only the Solent in summer. Most of them look more likely to die from the heat....

What you don't realise is that a growbag can be really sexy :o