Here at a large flight university in the Florida area (hmmm where could that be?) we all wear uniforms, but the company dress reqs have gone down alot over the years. Used to be full tie, epaulets, etc. year round, but that did not fly too well with us, particularly in the summer when it's 100+ outside. Now we wear the epaulets and wings, no tie, black pants, black shoes, and we've got polo shirts for the summer months. Only dress code for students is covered shoes, long pants, and sleeved shirts. Might as well get used to wearing the uniform now...we'll have to wear the "real" one soon. When I run errands I take off the epaulets and wings to avoid the random pilot questions from people:)

-Sargeanb

Trust me, when you walk out of your light trainer and into an FBO full of corporate/charter pilots the first time, you'll know what we mean.

I was never in the CAP primarily due to the fact that there was not a unit close. I was very lucky though - my grandfather had of vintage airplanes and we would go to a fly in most every weekend in the summer (he was a senior airline pilot, so he had the schedule). The CAP used to be at those walking the gounds, directing traffic, and keeping people off the antique airplanes. I always figured they were just like me, airplane crazy, but were not lucky enough to have a grandpa with old airplanes like i had. I always let them get in whatever airplane we had taken, talked to them, and made friends - they were great kids and motivated to pursue airplanes.

yea, just because a person wears a uniform doesn't mean they make it look good.
I've seen plenty of people wearing uniforms that made it look terrible.

ya know, like the guy with the button up shirt and tie and his "gig" line is off center and his tie is that poor man's non windsor knot that is off to the side of the collar

as far as CAP goes, would have been nice if it was around my hometown

I don't want to turn this into a CAP thread but I do fly CAP and they do more things than drill holes in the sky wasting money. If you look at the CAP role into the Katrina response you will get an idea of what it is capable of. The general location of an ELT can be determined by satellite but it can still be a difficult task to search for the actual location without some form of airborne DF. I think it is probably alot cheaper to have civilian volunteers using government 182s or 172s to locate and silence than calling in a paid governmental agency. Flight suit wise, I prefer to use my "uniform" polo shirt and grey slacks. It is one of the regulations and I think it is mainly for insurance reasons. Otherwise it would be my standard "pilot uniform" consisting of jeans, t-shirt, and hiking shoes.

When it comes to CFIs and students being required to wear "airline" type uniforms to train I think it is time for whoever is running the program to take a step back and get a grip. I realize that this must occur mainly in aviation programs that are stressing the step up to the regional or airline world, but won't the students get more from the training if they are at ease with their instructors and themselves? It is one thing to wear a uniform to encourage pride or professionalism, but quite another when the very people wearing them feel silly. At that point the uniform undermines the very thing that it is representing.

Maby if more flight schools did this, there would be less nasty looking pilots at the regionals... I saw one @ dullas the other day wearing his sunglasses backwards on his head walking around passengers, another without his belt in uniform, nasty hair cuts, stained shirts, etc. if people want to look like truck drivers, they better expect to be treated like one.

Yeah I wore a uniform at a big 141 school and it made my butt look huge! And on top of that you ain't gonna get any ladies wearing it!

I haven't seen a biker wear a name on their jacket in a long time. Bikers also don't wear that to look pro either. Personally it's not the cloths, I can tell within the first 30 seconds of convo if the person is worth their salt or if they are there just to try and impress ppl.

Yeah, In the Marine Corps where the cammies (Read: BDU's) are strictly a work uniform and us active duty Marines had regulations restricting them in public we -did- in fact care about "nasty" reservists wearing cammies out in town. I tell you what, it even hurt my feelings a little bit to see that stuff. God forbid you were some boot (Read: Newjoin) that got caught out in town in uniform by a Corporal or higher.

As far as uniforms at fligh schools go, out here at Spartan we have to where the whole getup. Students, Instructors, everyone. As far as I'm concerned I think four years in the Corps made me paranoid enough about making the uniform look good that I should be alright and not look too ridiculous but I'm really curious to see how some of the 18(ish) year old students that just moved out of mommies house look in these things.

Flight instructor uniforms don't bother me. What bothers me are the kids who wear all out suits to checkrides. Totally impractical, and it makes the situation appear more serious/stressful than it has to be. They aren't testing your wardrobe, they're testing your knowledge. I would wear khakis and a polo to my CFI checkride if we (CFI students) weren't required to wear ties.