aa73

Well, yeah... I admit I don't wear it if someone asks me. When they ask why I don't wear it, I say because I don't want to go bald at an early age... so far it's worked pretty good.

Slice

It's a FOD hazard...

Phantom Flyer

I agree with Lifeisgood !

I hated wearing hats but we were required to so and since the company was signing my pay check, I wore a hat every day.

Interestingly, several years ago, a survey was done of over 2,000 business travelers by an independent research company. The purpose was to judge the most professional looking airline pilots. Guess which pilot group was judged "the most professional looking and acting in the industry". Delta by almost a 2:1 margin. At that time, they always wore jackets and hats and even though I did not work for them, they looked pretty sharp. Were they better pilots....I doubt it... but the perception in the traveling public's eye was "yes".

I think that once you change to a more casual dress code, you loose some of your professionalism. Just look at "casual Friday's" in the business workplace. What started as a good idea has become, wear jeans, ragged running shoes and even tee shirts on Friday because "it's cool". What kind of statement does that make to a visitor to your company when half of the employees are dressed like they were going to work in the yard on Saturday.

Just my two cents, which isn't worth much these days. Incidently, we have a much more stringent dress code on the golf course that some employers; however, I do NOT wear a hat !!

FORE !!

an ol' Fox Four Driver[/quote]

A6danimal

Ah, but they WERE better pilots, too! That's the point!

jedinein

But what will your young 20-something wear when she's riding you? And if you don't wear a tie, how is she going to rein you in?

AZFlyer

I have a question somewhat related here....

How about hair on the collar? Obviously men are to have hair neat and appropriately trimmed so that it will not rest on the shirt collar.

But what about women? To me, it looks so tacky to see a females long hair comepletly smothering the collar....and to top it off, I think it looks even worse when you add a cap to the equation.

On the otherhand, I think female police officers and military personnel look *very* professional with their hair pulled back and up off the collar.

Maybe its just a pet peeve of mine, but it really irks me to see a female pilots hair on their uniform collar.

Though I do wonder, do any airlines mandate that their female pilots keep their hair tied back and up while in uni?

Zapata

The airlines are not the military. There is nothing unprofessional about men with a little hair that is covering the collar. I have seen it and as long as it is kept fairly neatly then it is okay. I have seen men with hair off the collar that looks worse than those with neatly stlyed/cut hair that hangs over the collar.

captjns

The pilots who loave their hats are those members with small members... if you know what I mean? There was this dumba$$ who worked at an airline I flew for that would cruise the malls in full regalia, yes including the helmet, during layovers.

ExperimentalAB

Nope - they'd be more than happy to risk their lives a little bit more to save a whole $5 on a round-trip JFKSFO...

Now back to the hats! I Love them - I ditched the POS "superior" in favor of the Bancroft, which is not only super-comfortable but better looking as well. I'll admit, I don't take my hat on every trip, but it certainly adds to the Professionalism of the Airline-Pilot persona...but the most important reason why I like it?? The chicks DIG the hat LoL. Next time you doubt bringing your Hat with you, just imagine your girlfriend, wife, or flight attendant posing for you in it in the buff!

ExperimentalAB

::Eek:: Don't quite know what to say about that!

That's no joke! On my very first Pre-flight for my first Airline Job, my hat (and damn-near my jacket, too!) was blown off and sent 100 yards down the Apron thanks to a Mesa crew's overkill single-engine turnout from the gate...When I finally tracked down my hat (it was super-early as well - no sun yet!), it had been beaten-up real good...::sigh::