Originally Posted by flensr

Flying a cessna with a knee board and gold sunglasses is lots of fun. Dressing up is part of that fun.

Maybe it's just a difference in how I look at life, but when I see that private pilot with whatever bits of flair he or she takes flying, it makes me smile because I know they're going out having fun and it usually isn't the kind of fun that hurts anyone else. Now if I see that same guy in a hangar putting down anyone else or crapping on the new guy just getting started, yea its easy to switch gears and knock them down a peg or two just because karma is a b%^%h and I hate bullies. But I personally think it's just fun seeing a pilot swagger out to his plane because he's out there having fun doing something that's really cool. Even if they're wearing something I would never wear or might consider ridiculous.

Some of us forget that, forget how we started. I'll never forget how it felt the first time I showed up at the airport without an instructor and swaggered out to that mighty cessna 150 wearing my coolest looking jacket, my gold rimmed ray-bans, and my kneeboard. It felt awesome and I didn't have to put anyone down to feel that way.