Originally Posted by
rickair7777
If people give you crap, just smile...you will have the last laugh when you are a widebody captain before you have too much grey hair. But do your part to alleviate public perception...frosted, spiked hair, ipods, and a guitar-hero interface strapped to your rollaboard do not enhance the image of regional pilots. All that stuff is fine, just not in uniform
I totally agree with your assessment of the "not in uniform" clause to your post. No one is trying to squasg someone's individualism, but when in uniform you need to look professional. That can hard to swallow sometimes. The Marines right now have made it against regulations to walk and talk on a cell phone in uniform right now( I still wonder how a General's aide gets his job done. There must be exceptions)
I'm lucky though. I've been flying commercially a lot recently and I haven't come across the pilots described above. I do remember once 20 years ago picking up a southwest crew in OKC. I took them to the hotel and an hour later or so the crew came down and asked to be taken to a local restaurant. That is when I noticed that the FO had extremely long hair an airline pilot. Obviously it was within company regs - but it was the longest hair I had ever seen on an airline pilot. He looked like the poster child for the California Surfer dude in his jams (yes - it was that long ago) and beach shirt. He look professional in uniform but obviously had a flair to his style when on "liberty"
USMCFLYR