Actually the mil analyzed that because of all the SOF guys who need facial hair to blend in at various foriegn locations.

They found that oxygen saturated beads are EXTREMELY flammable (explosive actually), and will pretty much burn your face right off. But that's OK for SOF, because they use O2 during insertion/extraction transport, not when they're actually in combat. If there's a fire on an aircraft the crew, not the pax, will fight it.

You can accept the risk that an O2-saturated beard could be a problem during fire-fighting (we don't do that very often) but you can't pretend it's not a risk.


Not a chance. It's already very well-established law that employers can set grooming standards... future lawsuits would only trigger the existing precedent (and waste money). The only thing you *might* see is legislation (which WOULD over-turn established legal precedent) preventing employers from banning some traditionally ethnic or religious grooming fashions (ex, dreads, cornrows). That's already happening in some places.

But unless some legislation just straight up bans ALL employer-defined grooming standards, or specifically authorizes beards for white guys, it won't help most pilots.