I try to wear it when the door is open. I live in an area where they are not required at all, so I am definitely not used to them, or even seeing them, and am not in the habit of wearing one. I do my best, but it's never in the forefront of my mind. I still forget my mask about 90% of the time I leave my hotel room.

Considering nearly every CDC study going back to the 1940s shows they are pointless, the masks are all for show. Discussing this with non aviation friends, family, and occasional innocent friendly banter with passengers, I am now absolutely convinced airline mask policies are costing us more business than they bring in. The fact our industry is boasting about how many people they have banned, including the infamous Navy SEAL, is beyond dangerous.

We're destroying ourselves from within and don't even realize it.

Ask 100 passengers if they think masks should be required and more than 80 would say yes. Now put 100 random people on a plane and announce masks are optional. How many would be maskless by the end of the flight? I'd guess at least 80. Maybe over 90 if going to Texas or Oklahoma. It would be an interesting experiment.

That said, I wear it when required by my employer, but I shake my head every time. Corporate is unfortunately completely missing the impact this is causing. Doesn't matter to them as they think they are doing the "right thing." ... smh

 

Well an OR is much quieter.. Ever hear how loud it is in the flight deck with the apu running and packs on? It's a lot easier to hear in a loud environment when you have the context of what the other persons lips are doing.

 

We do a LARGE number of things in aviation, especially at the airline level, because something “might” happen or some one in a million chance thing actually did happen.

You are telling me there is a totally zero chance that communication would be hindered by two pilots wearing a mask during an emergency?

 

I can rip my mask off in less than a second. Pretty sure people know how to yell if they need to as well.

 

I can also don my o2 mask in a about a second too and yet we have regs on that.

From personal experience people often overlook very obvious “fixes” when the stress level gets cranked up(emergency). I’ve had pilots(initial qual and very experienced) fly the sim into the ground with a gear horn blasting in their faces. V1 cuts with a fire bell blaring all the way through half of a QRH. Do you have a headset on with your mask? Will you rip that off too? Will you fumble to put it back on? Will it come out of the mic jack? stranger things have happened.

Like I said there is so much we do “just in case”. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to think this could fall under the same assumption.

 

I really doubt he's a pilot.

 

Do you think before you type? The mask can come off just as quickly and also at the same time as your headset. People who can’t push the fire push button during a v1 cut maybe shouldn’t be flying 121. It doesn’t matter if your headset comes out of the mic jack in a situation that requires you to don the o2 mask because you won’t be needing your headset. Just wear whatever your employer tells you to do or sit home.

 

I guess I missed the part where any of this was optional vs required.

Spirit requires all pilots to wear a mask anytime in the terminal or on the flight deck with the door open, once it’s closed, you’re free to take the mask off, or keep it on if you prefer. This is the policy, no different than a operation
policy or a flight profile. The company that signs my checks sets the policies and I get paid to see that they are carried out.

It isn’t that hard. Sad that this has become a political movement now. Just do what your company says or find a new gig, plenty of guys will be happy to wear a mask come October 1. Get some perspective

 

My last airline had a smoke event on takeoff maybe 7 or 8 years ago. When safety asked the pilots about it both stated that communication was difficult to near impossible with FAs/ATC/each other (the FAs were the most difficult) while wearing the mask and not wearing a headset. That particular acft has a pretty loud flight deck.

Our manuals were changed to recommend putting your headset back on after doning the o2 mask.

I guess you have seen and experienced everything that can happen in aviation though so maybe I should back off right?

For the record I have no problem wearing a mask while public facing.

 

I'm curious, aren't you afraid of giving or receiving COVID on the flight deck? It's not like there's a special immunity up there. I can't tell you how many times I've come home with a bug because the first officer had "allergies."