Positioning, in uniform. Owing to a crewing mix-up, there was no pilot. I rang, and offered to operate. Nope, over total flight hours in last 28 days; couldn't operate till the following day. (we were working hard). The pilot who should have got off, having finished a week away from home, was told to operate, and have another night in the hotel at destination.

Perhaps more to the point, do you guys refrain from a glass of wine with a meal before traveling on holiday or deadheading, on the off chance that you might have to step up to the flight deck within the next 8 hours?

Surely when an off-duty professional pilot gets a phone call saying “we’re short of a pilot, can you fly today?” they make a grown-up assessment whether they’re fit and able to fly, and if not for any reason, they say “sorry, no, unable.” Depending on their employer thay may have to explain why: “sorry, no, I’m drunk.” OTOH, if by an outside chance they’re sober and willing to fly, that’s when they turn up in civvies.

I was looking at that question from another perspective. In light of recent and past events, what if a pilot becomes incapacitated and you could be an extra pair of professional hands to assist the remaining pilot (assuming a two crew FD of course)?

I've flown in plain clothes as well, once while ferrying, the other time I was called from a standby before my standby even begun. I was in a shop, fetching groceries when the dispatch called. Apparently they called somebody before, an hour went by, something happened to this guy so the ops were running out of time and options.

License not being on your person is not a problem. If you get a ramp check and don't have it on you, the ops have a copy of it and can email it to whoever is interested to see it. A much more important piece of kit is the crew member certificate/and/or any proxy cards you might need to pass through security.

As others have said you would have to use your professional judgement.

Certainly when travelling on "my own dollar" I'm not going to sit in my seat like a coiled spring, refusing a glass of wine or a beer, just in case.

Cool story, however, who is sad enough to go on holiday with their pilot license?

Photocopy
 

In FAA land we can no longer use a Photocopy/EMail from Crew Records etc. A temporary certificate has to be requested on https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certifi...rmen_services/
This is a recent change and may not be as well known as some.
#PSA

Anyone wanting to Jumpseat home.....

Absolutely agree with your comment.

Ages back while on B-737 we deadheaded as crew from FRA to GVA in civvies to start the first leg of a 4 day European rotation early next morning.
We arrived in GVA - our suitcases didn't.
Next morning suitcases were still missing.
We decided to operate the flight in civvies - made an announcement ( lunch in FRA, dinner in GVA, suitcases gone ... ) and flew the flight in civvies before ending the rotation in FRA as suitcases were still MIA.
They turned up a few days later having been sent to Damascus, of all places despite having a DH label on them for GVA..

No complaints, everybody happy - except for us as we missed a night-stop in Ankara.,

Thanks for the update. :ok:

Whether you could legally drink alcohol while on a company deadhead out of uniform has been the subject of debate where I've worked. Domestic folks would say of course you can't drink, you are on duty. International types would say, of course you can, we do it all the time.

Inevitably, someone has an incident or is unavailable to operate and the policy gets 'clarified'.

On some international sectors deadheading crew are required to be in civilian clothes for security reasons, on others they must be in uniform for crew status in customs and immigration.

Those with a license small enough to fit in your wallet. Like here in FAA-land where it's the size of a credit card.

Mine is always in my wallet. Not because I need it, but because I might need it. Just like my health insurance card, backup credit card, AOPA card, etc.

Have flown in jeans and T as was positioning with uniform in hold and operating pilot fell ill. ID and a hi-viz was all that was needed.

Saw an EZY FO going to the aircraft in alpinestars leather jeans and boots but with work shirt and tie (forgot his kit bag on day one)

i nearly did the same commuting by motorbike once but found some trousers in lost and found box!

Sometimes pilots go where they could also do some scenic flights. There you go, you need a license for that.

Sadly cockpit didn't get jeans...
The only time I tried to ferry an aircraft in jeans Spanish security didn't let me past until I listed myself as a jump seater....