Originally Posted by
loc n slope
When a hat is optional, wearing one says you're a bit of a tool. You want people to look at you in awe that you're a pilot. Or maybe management type. Plenty of people they wear hats when optional and they're just fine.
When any part of the uniform is mandatory and not worn purposely, they're just too cool for school. Probably a huge db, immature, and the type that will cheat a walk-around, leave out call-outs, and show that the checklist has been memorized when one has been called for.
Right, because to do the least one can possibly do is to show how cool one is. People would come to work in ripped jeans and a stained t-shirt if they could make fun of the guy wearing the intact pants and a polo. The same guys that are late to show, playing with their phone when they should be doing a flow, drinking a Dunkin' and hardly looking at a plane during preflight, or even can't be bothered to push a couple buttons before they come to work and ensure their EFB is updated. Maybe they're unhappy about the hat-wearer suggesting they do their job right?
The uniform has a cachet that goes with it, and I guarantee the vast majority of the people who have always wanted to be an airline pilot thought that getting to wear that uniform would be pretty badass. I'm sure many of you tried your first uniform on as soon as it was issued before you even got out of ground school. How quickly the shine wears off, because only the rookies and company men wear their full kit, right? Pity. A well-dressed pilot looks sharp, respectable, professional and worth every penny. The reason people feel safe aboard our planes. Some people would prefer to look otherwise.