Dress Code
 

If I join OAA for the full time Ground School, can anyone tell me what I will be expected to wear??

Thanks
VFR

navy trousers, Navy "OAA" jumper, white pilot shirt, OAA epaulletes, black shoes. oh and the OAA tie.

its a bit sickening isnt it! A walking advert for OAA. I like the way they stick you in a pilots uniform b4 uve even flown a plane.

and don't forget is't black tie for dinner!

What a crock of SH1T

Why should we need to wear a uniform.

VFR

so oxford can make even more money by forcing you to buy it.

Because your future employer will insist on the same?

Get over it. if you feel so precious that the only thing you have to gripe about is not being able to wear your abercrombies (note not Abercrombie & Fitch), then maybe you just need to take a reality check yourself.

Tie, Indian, Chinese... I'm not particularly fussed what I eat.

the employer arguement is not valid.

The employer is paying you to wear their attire.

You are the paying customer at OAA.

Personally wearing the uniform doesn't bother me. I've just gotten used to it. There are plenty of more important things wrong with OAA than the uniform believe me.

Would you care to share???

VFR

This isn't just unique to OAA, CTC and Cabair (and I'm sure there are others) have a similar setup whereby you wear a uniform to ground school lessons.

How about instructors that have no idea what they are teaching.. all ex RAN RAF you name it and thus its an old boys club. If you arent ex military or English then you are below them!

The double standards between modular and integrated, the extortionate prices they charge for the stupid courses when Bristol and some wise planning would save you a hell of a lot of money.

And to top it off lies and lies about your chances of a job. Mind you not that this in unique to Oxford but i think they truly do believe what they tell you which is worrying.

Overall I wasn't impressed when I was there and I've heard it got worse.

To top it off I made it to the wall of people THEY had found work for. Unfortunately they didn't ask to use my name and forgot to tell everyone that I did all the work off my own back!

VFR.

Well, I would say that A hilton hotel is in general better than a travelodge.

Partly because the Hilton hotel is more expensive and gives a higher class product. Also lets say the travelodge would say cater for 100 guests at a time and fills it's rooms with 100 guests. For arguements sake lets say the Hilton caters for 500 guests. The Hilton would need more and sometimes better facilities than the travelodge. The Hilton fills it's quota of 500 and everyone is happy.

Now lets say the travelodge sticks to it's capacity of 100 guests but the Hilton decides to pile 2000 guests into it's hotel thus stretching it's capacity to almost breaking point, so much so that it's private study areas are now being used as classrooms and the carparking situation is just stupid as they are digging up the already too small car park.

maybe the travelodge becomes a more appealing option.

Rhodes13 don't hold back now!!!

I actually agree with most of what Rhodes said. I'm starting my final week of groundschool tomorrow and i can't wait to get out of here. Rhodes is absolutely spot on about the glaring double standards between integrated and modular. OAA will swear until they are blue in the face that CBR and APP courses are treated the same in groundschool..THEY AREN'T. It astounds me that OAA won't admit it. Actually a good example is uniform, you will see mods with bits of uniform missing as the stuff that they have orderred was given to an integrated student.

As for the instruction, in fairness i thought it was pretty good. Some of the instructors are absolutely brilliant. I found two, however to be very very poor. 1 in each phase. This is two too many. Also Rhodes13 is right, some of the instructors do witter on about military crap far too much, do they not realised that if i wanted to hear about the military i would have bloody joined the military!!

Also EVERY single OAA student I know uses the bristol database for JAA exam prep and not oxcel, that should tell you something. If i had my time over i would have done bristol distance learning or somewhere less like a boarding school.

Rhodes 13

I understand they think just as highly of you too.

Chrisbl did I upset the rocking cart?

Why bother some people cant see the forest from the trees.

But hey if you want to spend all your money at a second rate flying school go right ahead.

But hey ho I could at least say I've been to Oxford and rub one out at the thought that BA will be calling me soon for a job!!!

Back to the uniform. Yes you do have to wear one. Yes it boring but think of it this way, at least you dont have to decide what to wear in the morning. Choice made!:ugh::ugh:

It looks pathetic and stupid when people with f all hours learning how to fly are wearing a uniform with epaulettes and those bloody ray bans!!!!
Imagine your in a shop and a random person asks what airline you fly for!!!!!Ans=oh eh im getting instruction in a 2 seat piece of crap with a broken heater and dodgy radio!!!Sounds stupid doesnt it
If you work for a company than fine other than that wearing a uniform is a no no but hey rules are rules and if oaa want it then u gotta do it.

Actually, I found it deeply insulting when I walked past a little kid who, pointing at me and tugging his mother's hand, said, "Mummy, mummy, look at that policeman..." ;-)

Why, as a student, should it be insulting to be mistaken for a policeman?

Anyway guys, get over it - we all wear uniforms; every day! Whatever your situation, you wear a uniform. And if you don't understand that, you have a wee bit to learn about human nature!!!

Cheers

Whirls

As a policeman, I too find it deeply insulting that you were mistaken for one.

Good god, its only a uniform!

I remember being out in Arizona. One day I was flying with my instructor and was going to buy something after I finished the lesson and asked his advise where to go to get it. He mentioned somewhere so I said;

"cool, I'll go home, get changed and head out".

"Why not stop off on the your way home?"

"Well I have to get changed out of my uniform"

"Why?"

"Because everyone will think I'm a total w*nker for parading round in my unform"

Americans clearly have a different, and more sensible, attitude towards uniforms judging from his reaction.

Finally!

A thread that provides more comic relief than "Evidence that the downturn is finally upon us."

Just what we need to get us through the PPRuNe summer slowdown!

The status that the uniform brings!
 

I was standing in a hotel lobby in Memphis with the Captain and First Officer (me being the Flight Engineer) whan a lady approaches the Captain and ask's him to take her bags to her room!

Ever the gent "fast eddy" takes her bags up to the room and on return just smiles at us and says "the five Dollar tip will cover breakfast!"

Wow! I actually remember you telling this same story/joke whatever it is about 5 years ago! :ok:

What would happen if you turned up at OAT in your jeans and refused to wear a uniform?
Would they kick u out?
Has anybody ever tried it?

What is the general consensus at OAT, do you boys and girls like wearing the uniforms or is it a pain in the neck?

If the kid had have called me a traffic warden, a taxman or even Hitler I would turn the other cheek being a little kid and all.

Had he called me a policeman......:eek: I would have left him in a world of pain.

:eek:Rhodes 13

Not at all. I was being ironic but if you are too dull to see it thats your problem.

You two had a fallout or something? No need for that IMO chris, or was you last comment supposed to be ironic as well? :rolleyes:

I fail to see how wearing a uniform aids you in any way, shape or form during training. Unneccessary corporate branding and pretentious bollocks.

Fine, if you're a pro pilot you wear a uniform. The public expect to see a smartly turned out crew flying their aircraft. But for training? Load of !!!!e in my opinion. A uniform doesn't help you fly the aircraft any better.

I don't fly for a living, but I do have a well paid job which requires professionalism. If I have meetings with outside execs and other such important folks, fine, I'll wear a suit as in those instances the impression matters. When I've got an easy day and I'm just sat around in the office, I'll put on a pair of jeans and a shirt. Uniforms for the sake of uniforms is stupid.

The purpose of the uniform is to help make the organisation or company look more professional. That's why uniforms are there, regardless of whether you are a pilot, policeman, nurse or indeed a pilot in training. Do you not think that OAT, OAA, FTE, CTC know the airlines are looking for the professional looking, clean cut cadet?

I suppose the other purpose (less obvious/measurable) would be it gets the students in a 'working' mindset where they feel like they are doing a job. Suppose it gives you pride in what you're doing (cynics, you'll have a field day with this one:}).

This thread is beyond the realms of immaturity I thought even the newest and youngest Pruners were capable of.
Oxford is a proffessional outfit, you work, you win, you don't work, you lose, big time.

Now given the £25 outlay for epaulettes, shirt and tie (the only compulsory items, surely everyone one the planet has black or blue trousers) I think that the cost does not even factor into the £40-60k you'll be spending on flight training at OAA. The shirt needn't be an OAA one so that rules out the advertising, and as for being mistaken for a policeman, well, if that bothers you.............

Now as for the need for the uniform you'll be hard pressed to find a good institution that doesn't have you wearing it at some point of your training, and its the same winy fools complaing about this uniform, that would be pointing at Tom Dick or Harry for being too smart, too flash or too scruffy if there wasn't one.

Get a life.

:} A lot of things about OAA are pretentious, but if you've chosen OAA above all the other options for training I would have expected that a requirement to wear a uniform would rank quite low on your list of concerns.

couldn't agree more MikeHotel. As I stated earlier, the uniform is the last thing you should be concerned about. It really isn't a big deal, you forget you're wearing it after the first week and you blend in and become another jelly mould pilot that oxford create.... I am not a number...I am a free man!!!! well i will be in three weeks when it's all over. Til then it's TS0011!!

I have to say that I find it amusing that so many people have such strong opinions about such a minor thing. Is it THAT insulting to make you do so? If you don't want to wear a uniform, then don't go to ANY of the schools that make you do so. If, however, you're even just barely capable of seeing past this requirement, then perhaps you can concentrate on the more important and less futile aspects of pass rates and quality of instruction.

Anyone with kids at private school? I dare say quite a few - you pay a significant amount of money to send them there and yet the cheeky swines STILL make them wear unform!! What an absolute disgrace!

Get over it guys, there are bigger issues in this world. In my experience, there are very few people out there that actually care in the slightest about wearing a uniform.

And Lawn Mower, just for the record, as you can probably guess, no-one really cares here!

i seem to remember back in the 90's you had diferant colour epaulettes depending on what stage of the training programme you were on.
The uniform served a purpose - no ar5e1ng about in the morning deciding what to wear, no oil/fuel strains on your own jeans etc...

And on a personal note i though it made me "get into work mode" and actually looked pretty smart and professional.
Don't see the problem myself - if you don't want to wear the uniform and are getting your knickers in a twist over such a trivial matter then important things like exams and flying are going to tip you over the edge- good luck :ugh:

The epaulettes at oxford are different depending on what stage you are on - they serve a purpose.
If you have such a big problem with uniform - go somewhere that doesn't make you wear one.
And why shouldn't the integrated students at OAA be treated better.... seems to me like their bill is considerably larger!

If you are in this for the ability to look good in your own clothes everyday.. maybe you are thinking about the wrong career?

I don't have a huge problem with oaa integrated students being treated better than modular ones as you rightly point out they do pay a lot more, however what i do have a problem with is oaa telling lies when they tell modular students that they will be treated exactly the same as integrated students whilst on groundschool. They're not and OAA are lying. That is the problem i have. Whilst we're being pedantic then the PPL modular students should have OAA PPL epaulletes to distinguish themselves from the integrated students who have never flown a plane in their lives no??

The day airline recruiters quit walking the halls of FTO's is the day they could consider dropping uniforms. As long as FTO's have a chance of those recruiters hiring their output or sending a cadet programme their way, they will insist their students look the professional part they wish to play. This seems entirely reasonable to me.

Just to add two pennies worth.
For my CPL and ME I had to wear uniform, I did not like it, but thats the way life is. It was my won choice to go to this school and therefore I could not complain.

However spamfritters last post of how OAA intergrated should be better treated than their fellow students on Modular sums up everything I dislike about OAA. :ugh::ugh::ugh:

wingo I am a modular student and I finish on thursday so there isn't a great deal of point in complaining now. Although when we have complained about things, in general the management have listened and in some cases sorted it out. A case in point is that 8 of our course were told that they would have to sit their exams in gatwick as there was no room at oxford. Obviously we whinged about it and to be fair, it has been sorted out. The problem is though, why was it only modular students getting bumped in the first place?? If mods and ints are treated the same in groundschool (which they still trot out on the first day) then why was it not 4 mods and 4 ints in the first place??

I actually feel for the management on the instruction side of it as a lot of the problems aren't really their fault..It's the pure greed of putting on too many courses with too many students which stretches the resources to breaking point. From what I've heard it's even worse on the flying side of things in AZ which is why i wouldn't touch waypoint with a bargepole.

The sad thing is that the integrated students are so reliant on their "school report" to get recommended for interview that they are scared to speak out against the company line for fear of it scuppering their chances after spending 62k so it's up to modulars to tell it like it is.

It's up to every individual to make up their own mind about which FTO to train at, and I say again for those who think i have some kind of vendetta against OAA, the groundschool instructors are on the whole very good. I think I mention before that only 2 of my instrustors i considerred to be poor (one of which is complained about by just about every course so why the hell he is still there is a mystery to me).

Anyway, it's almost over for me but for whose who haven't chosen this is just one of many views to be taken into account. Some people loved the place, I'm not one of them.