Originally Posted by
Cycle Pilot
No... Embarrassing is being in ATL yesterday and seeing a Pinnacle pilot with big old "Dog the Bounty Hunter style" sunglasses sitting on the back of his head, a huge silver belt buckle, Doc Martin style shoes, and listening an MP3 player while walking through the terminal. Embarrassing is seeing pilots walk through a terminal with their shirts dirty and half untucked. Embarrassing are the past couple of accidents, and how pilots had total disregard for flying their aircraft safely. Have some pride in yourself and your career (regardless of how much you make) and the public perception will shift.
I'm very proud to be a professional pilot, and you'll see that pride in everything I do related to my career. If you're not proud to be in this career, you should switch careers.
Could not have said it better myself. It is almost always amongst the regional pilot ranks as well. It makes the rest of the regional pilots who take pride in how they present themselves as an airline pilot look bad. I especially love the sunglasses on the head, the ipods, the numerous livestrong type bracelets (one is enough and the livestrong one is out), improperly colored shoes and or/belt (silver goes with silver and white bars, gold goes with gold bars), white socks, long hair, and 3-day old beard (i'll let a day old slide on the fact that they may have a reduced rest overnight). If you are one of these, please stop. I know it won't increase our pay and won't make us look "more experienced", but it will make us look more professional as a whole.