I'm fairly certain that if the guy I'm sitting 6 inches from for several hours in an enclosed cockpit is contagious, I'm going to be infected regardless of whether or not we're wearing masks.

don't worry you can social distance outside and be safe because the wind never blows and people can't sneeze up to 25 feet. as long as you social distanced your social distancing you'll be fine wearing a mask and saying you are safe is like saying washing your hands keeps you from getting sick 100 percent of the time. gmab.

I am a captain. If the fo is sick he or she is calling out. Even if I have to do it for them. No I’m not afraid of catching covid on the flight deck. Masks work for limited contact time. The jury is out on close contact for a longer time frame. I have a higher risk of screwing up do
to miscommunication than I do of catching covid.

Given that the masks are designed to protect others, I tend to wear mine until the door is closed not primarily for public perception (I'm sure most who see us unmasked while boarding assume they interfere with our duties anyway), but to protect the gate agent, baggage handlers, flight attendants, fuelers, or any number of personnel who may need to come up to say or check on something.

Until this thing is over it feels selfish talking to strangers in confined space/close proximity without one. Once the door closes, risk of them interfering with duties outweighs reward of their protection against the virus. Additionally, significant changes made in the flight deck environment after brake release need to be studied and regulated as they relate to the operation, and face masks haven't been. Although I do not think they make it that much more difficult to hear through lol.

That being said, I'd be curious about coronavirus prevalence among airline/airport employees. Delta CEO said maybe a few weeks ago in an interview that positive cases in their flight attendant group were below any and all national averages, which is encouraging.

Wiser men than I have said they “wish they had known then what they know now.” If only we could know now what we’ll one day wish we had known about this virus.

In absence of clairvoyance, I believe we can — and should — hedge our bets by taking the reasonable precautions and following the reasonable recommendations of those bone fide experts, who are telling us such measures *may* help reduce the impact of the COVID.

There are many sides to the arguments surrounding COVID precautions, therapies, vaccines, and strategies. People feel strongly about their opinions. There is disagreement and strife. Experts have told us one thing, then later the exact opposite. That is the way these things go; we know what we know, and as we learn more, it’s entirely likely we’ll encounter further situations in which the thing we thought we knew yesterday was wrong.

Few recommendations seem to elicit as impassioned a response as the one regarding mask wear. Interestingly, it’s the one that comes with the least risk to healthy individuals, such as those of us able to obtain FAA First-Class Medical Certificates. Unlike therapies or vaccines, which are designed to primarily help recipients personally, mask wear predominantly protects *others.* This makes it very unique — especially in our American culture. We’re being asked to suffer personal inconvenience and discomfort, to voluntarily sacrifice personal freedoms, and to assume whatever small risks wearing a mask entails to [maybe] help other people; strangers even.

Someday we’ll positively know if mask wear prevented the spread of COVID, if lives and livelihoods were saved by people who chose to sacrifice their comfort on behalf of their fellow human beings. Maybe masks will turn out to be the difference-maker. Maybe they won’t. In the mean time each of us must answer for himself whether the juice is worth the squeeze. I think it is and I wear my mask until the door is closed — or even after if my fellow pilot requests.

"Given that the masks are designed to protect others,"

lol

Not sure what's funny. They don't stop the inhalation of the virus but they do stop the mass exhalation of it. They are designed to protect others. Why do you suppose surgeons wear them. To protect droplets from getting into an open wound or stop the wound from infecting the surgeon?

Yup. Lol indeed. At your brain capacity.

When you would cough or sneeze pre covid, would you cough into your hand or shoulder, sneeze into a tissue or something? Unless you are an animal, of course you would; limiting the amount of your snot, phlegm, spit etc going out for others to ingest.

So ill break it down for those with pea sized brains..think of a face mask as a tissue, hand, and shoulder that is attached to your face.

It is common sense, not political.