Epaulettes
 

As a young and naive pilot ive always wondered when you qualify for bars on your epaulettes.

Is there any standard format, or is it just what the pilot feels like wearing?

ie:

PPL - 1 bar
CPL - 2 Bars
CFI/II - 3 Bars
ATPL - 4 Bars

And is there any difference between gold and silver?

I know this is a main thing in fixed wing, but how does it work in the Helo world?

Any help would be great :ok:

Safe Flying all and keep Smiling :O

R22

It's usually equal and opposite proportional to the size of your genital(s)....:}
The gold is only for Dutch people due to Austin Powers.

I always wondered why people wanted to show off the size of thier man hood, but then i thought about the ladies of the helo world! How does that work???:ugh:

But on a serious note....

Epaulettes
A Tour Owners excuse to not allow you to garner Tips................
Your a Professional Whore......

Garner Tips??????

Dont know that one!!!!:confused:

A pilot once told me that is was one bar for every £10'000 spent on obatining the licences!!!!!

Most/many corporate, especially here in the N.E....Captain 4 bar, First Officer 3...colour Director of Operations choice. It may impress the waitress :cool: at the local diner on crew break, but won't get you free coffee :ooh:

My company uses 2 bars for co-pilot, 3 bars for senior co-pilots and 4 bars for captains. All gold.

I think if it´s gold or silver is more a matter of the company unform dress code.

Fixed wing its:
2 Bars S/Os
3 Bars F/Os
4 Bars Captain

Rotor Wing
3 Bars F/Os
4 Bars Captain

In physics 1 bar is equal to about 14.7 lbs/sq/inch

Thats because your an R 22 Driver.......you have to tip the owner just to fly......
Garner: to acquire by effort..........If your doing tours in an R-22, its called begging.

EQUALETTES are otherwise known as wreckage handles.

After the pilot crashes simply grab hold of him by the equalettes and drag him away from the wreckage

Epaulettes generally seem to be scorned in the helo world as being pretentious. They are. However, I do believe they should be worn when flying pax because they like to think they have a professional pilot behind the controls and wearing epaulettes fosters that image. They feel happier, and the happier they are, the better tips you will get. In theory anyway.

They are also very useful when flying in places like Africa when you have to deal with petty officialdom with an overinflated attitude and a desire to fill their pockets. Some are still slightly impressed by anyone wearing visible rank and they will sometimes even accord a little respect. You can get away with more and I have marched through restricted areas, to find the above officials on their extended lunchbreaks, with a confident attitude and a "take no c**p look", and people are more hesitant to stop me. Wonderful! I have not used them much otherwise. It helps if a company has guidelines and tell you when to wear them. Most guys/gals wont wear them because they think they will look like an idiot. If the company says they must, then they can prance around with bars and feel important without feeling guilty.

There is nothing wrong with wearing bars, you have worked hard for them and you should be proud to wear them, just choose where and when you wear them. Do not wear more than you are entitled to and it looks stupid if you wear them around town.:cool:

The original question has been answered but it did not cover WHEN to wear bars.

Begging!!! Thats the clean version! If anyone gives my stick time that i dont have to pay for then hey, Begging it is!!!!

Anyone need a slave for a day??!! Will work for beer, women or stick time. All 3 could be good!

R22

R22DRIVER is correct. For the heli world it is as follows:

"PPL - 1 bar" This will the cheapest Bar in town where all the other new PPL's will hang out and discuss ways of earning more money to complete CPL.

"CPL - 2 Bars" The CPL will go to at least 2 Bars or more to tell anyone who will listen that he/she is a Commercial Helicopter pilot.

"CFI/II - 3 Bars" The CPL with some experience and an instructors rating has now moved back to the cheap Bar to impress the PPL's and save money for turbine endorsement.

"ATPL - 4 Bars" The ATPL will be found in any number of Bars (at least 4 in 1 night) reliving the glory days of his youth/past flying experiences/overseas postings/woman from said trips, and the fact that he is a helicopter pilot to anyone standing nearby.

BigMike, spoken like a true ATPL........ :E

I'm not propping up the bar for nowt, y'know! :)

Cheers

Whirls

Epaulettes
 

Whether to wear them? How many bars?

I suppose of you are routinely experiencing some difficulty in passing through the various checkpoints in your shorts and deckies - some airports in France for example? - then it might be prudent to wear an airline shirt, sensible trousers and, as a captain, 4 bars.

If you just want to look like a pilot to impress then wear them all the time. Some will take the p@ss, I probably would too.....

HP

Bars always seem to attract the Inane, Invalid or just plain Insane, but are always good for a pint or three!:cool:
Vfr

I always thought it was to do with flying qualifications.....
1 bar = up,
2 bars = up/down,
3 bars = up/down/left,
4 bars = up/down/left/right
If you have a co with you with 2 bars that means you can side slip aswell :)

Rick

Suggestion to PPls. You will look a total pillock if you wear bars at all.

In UK bars are worn by Professional pilots always, 4 for Capt and 3 for FO.

The people to really worry about are the numpties who wear medal ribbons on their civvy uniforms. Now that is seriously worrying...

How about it hey!

I ask a stupid question...... I get stupid answers!!!

Bring them on boys! Make me smile some more!!:O

Sorry, I missed the part where you said it was a stupid question :} In that case you should wear them at all times. No, really !! You paid for them....wear them with pride. Women will adore you and men will tremble in you presence. ;)

Hey! I like the bit about men trembling in my presence; perhaps I will get some ;)

Cheers

Whirls

Whirls,

You know you dont need bars to make men tremble in presence!:ok:

Agaricus bisporus,

'In UK bars are worn by Professional pilots always, 4 for Capt and 3 for FO.'

Almost... 4= Capt, 3= SFO, 2= FO, 1=Moron


Lunar.

Not that im going to be wearing any soon but its just one of those questions you always mean to ask but always forget!!!!

I only worked for one operator that required pilots to were them, it was about image, I would have rather had the Transmisson leak fixed and a wind screen I could see out of, but you see it was about image. What ever floats your boat I guess. I could care less. Never worn them when I flew airplane either.

While we had to wear a nice shirt and "3 bars" when flying the tourists, no fashion conscious pilot would be seen without the following while doing Bush work:


http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/...OzBushwear.jpg

Bullseye! BigMike :ok:
That's the way i like it to see us rotorheads! I hate this company forced wearing of bars, fortunately they want it only on a few occasions.
Wearing bars on uncle franks toys is comical. In cases i had to fly a much bigger JAR/FAR 29 twin and my boss or the PR Manager pressed me in a new shirt with tie and bars i feeled like a bus driver, a bellboy or like one of this gracefully airline captains,fresh out of a slang tanner, assisted by one or two ambitious FO. :bored:
NO! I'm proud to be a helicopter pilot and not one of this high altitude, well polished, one way autopiloted "cockpit managers". I like the laxity to be a rotorhead, i like the smell of kerosene, i like the dust from hovering near grounds, i like my proven and scratched leather jacket, i like my cap and i like the feel to go outfitted in this manner through the mass of bars wearing plank drivers, getting ascendent views from this statures and out on the field they stumble looking at my multimillion ship, my maneuvers, and i blow them the airfield dust direct at the well pressed white shirts with bars. :E

Exactly BigMike, just sub in a pair of really raggy jeans and a pair of really gnarly Kodiacs (work boots) and you've got the Canadian Bush Pilot's flying suit.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/...OzBushwear.jpg
dont forget:
- slight paunch derived from cheap beer and lack of excersise due to either sitting in helicopter, sitting in office waiting to sit in helicopter, or sitting in bar waiting to for the following day when you can do it all over again.
- Evidence of red face, not from a tropical tan, but from women slapping you when you attempted to chat them up whilst wearing Epaulettes.
- wallet in back pocket as it is thin enough to be there, seeing that it usually holds one note, an expired credit card, and possibly a crumpled photo of the lastest barmaid, purely used to prove to your fellow pilots that you are getting some. Note destined to be used over the course of the evening to buy beer for paunch.

The most appropriate quote is the one from the "Rent-a-Mob" scene in Blazing Saddles:

"Badgeees?! We don' need no feelthy badgeeees!"

Mike

The only thing I have to say is that you might want to invest in some long pants to cover your legs. :eek:

I wondered where KFZ got to after Royce had his way with it.

IHL,
Oft forgotten that 1 bar is (nearly 'was'?!) worn by the F/E! Happy days, they were!:D

I wear 4 bars and my co wears 3 . I find gold is better as it matchs the colour of our R22.

Seedy Bars for Helicopter Pilots????

NO......Platinum bars...every time!
Much higher order! :ok:

Big Mike,

Finally!

Been wearing my "Blunnies" since '98, were "once black," and have been soaked in so many types of fuel and oil, that they're considered Dangerous Goods by the airlines...

We are issued Flight Suits, mine is for sale, never used. As for Bars, well, wore them once years ago in Mexico, never again. Sort of damned if you do, and damned if you don't, because if you take them off, you look like the Mormon "Mass Conversion Team" kids that show up at your door every three weeks when you're hung over.

RH

champagne mr selfish. champagne.

When I asked the question about how many bars we were supposed to wear on the epaulettes, I was told by the chief pilot to get ones with no more than 3, otherwise I would make everyone else look silly.

Surely You wear as many bars as your payload permits up to the point when your shoulders sag?

Seriously, the question's been answered already but could I empasize that etiquette demands that you take your bars off in a non-aviation environment and doubly so if you're bellying up to a bar!

Someone made a good point that fare-paying passengers like to see them because, quite irrationally, it fills them with confidence and they are also useful in transit through Europe and Africa. Advanced years and a majestic demeanour also helps!