New Hire Uniform Etiquette
 

I saw a PDT IOE instructor today in PHL, he completely trashed a new hire because of the way he wore his uniform. His biggest complaint was that his stripes were on backwards. "No Captain is going to respect you as a pilot or what you have to say if you look like a SLOB!!!"

Personally, I think the guy went just a tad bit crazy. But I do know what hes talkin about. Anyway I guess my point is just to help out some of you new guys who havent worn a Uniform yet. Cuz I too have seen it myself. So yeah.....the wide end of your stripes are supposed to be furthest away from your neck.

As somebody who's received two sets of stripes (one from M&H and one from my company), I've never seen instructions on which direction they should face. Sounds like the CKA had a bug up his you-know-where.
I seem to be one of the few pilots who wears the full uniform, and even I don't wear the full uniform. The hat comes with me on all trips, and I actually wear it. However, I do not put my brass on my shirt while wearing the summer uniform. The brass that CHQ wants on our shirts is the same brass that they want on our jackets, and I'm not putting holes that big in my shirt.
Show me five pilots, and I'll show you five different ways to wear the same uniform.

Oh yeah?
 

Well where's your blazer? You know November to May....

And it looks like half your crew meal is smeared on your lap.

Oh, I'm sorry, you probably can't see that!

Probably had the seam on the bottom of the epaullets showing.

I don't see what's so hard about iorning your shirt and pants and running a bottle of shoe cleaner/polish across your shoes every once in a while. Then again, it can be quite an adventure when you're 22 years old and have never used an iorn or polished a pair of shoes. I sure as hell didn't do it very often before I had to wear the monkey suit.

http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphic...061506-125.jpg What is that? A PLEDGE PIN! On your uniform?

Coming from the military the uniform standards and enforcement in the airlines is a joke. Try preparing your uniform for an hour or so everytime you wear it. Iron your pants and shirt, starch your collar and keep the shoes at least clean if you are not going to shine them. If you want to go above and beyond cut all of those little loose threads off your shirts. That is a bare minimum and takes no more than 10 minutes or so.

Epaullets are idiot proof, the seam on the bottom..you do not want to see that, the wide part goes towards your shoulder and the skinny part goes towards your neck.

Don't wear a shirt that is three sizes too big. Saw a guy walking around the school house today with way too much fabric above the waist. It looked like trash.

Timeless:cool:

Should the CKA have dressed the new guy down in public? No. Remember, praise in public and reprimand in private.

That said, how we present ourselves to the public including how wear our uniforms influences our customers' image of the crew, the airplane, and the company. If you want to be respected as a professional, [B]look[B] professional. But if you want to look like someone who is inconvenienced by having to go to work, then wear your unpressed shirts, ipods, loose ties, backpacks, cheesy sunglasses, and spiked hair with the "uniform".


Oh, and on a side note, don't pre/post flight while talking on a cell phone. Your girl/boyfriend doesn't really need to know you are on a 15 minute turn in Peoria and have a two hour sit after this leg. (And the Feds take a pretty dim view of this too)

It seems like every major uniform company did away with that problem by making "Athletic Cut" shirts....however.....M&H hasnt jumped on that band wagon yet.

I too wear the full uniform....I got lucky with my hat though....it actually fits my head....i see some guys with hats at least one size too big...it looks retarted...like a 5 year old dressing up in his dads clothes.

I wish our uniforms were a little more distinct. Anyone doin flying for airways (AWAC RAH TSA Colgan) we all were the same thing. I dunno my inner toolness is coming out. I still think the coolest lookin uniforms were the Old School Pan Am ones...double breasted jackets and white hats....I wouldnt mind wearing something like that

It's not like the uniform is all that hard. It's pants, a shirt, and a jacket (and a hat, but...ya know). Hell, they even make little fortified indentions for where the brass is supposed to go. The stripes are pretty self explanatory. There's a wide end and a skinny end. The portion of your shirt that they go on has a wide end and a skinny end. Put 2 and 2 together....

If you're gonna stray from company policy, at least make it look good.

that includes your flying

From someone that rarely spends any time on this website, I was wondering, do you guys have a life? Are you really spending your valuable time talking about uniforms on this forum? I can’t believe I am actually spending my time responding to this nonsense.

Since winter has begun, the general public hasn't even seen my uniform, since I wear my heavy overcoat over my uniform jacket everywhere I go except in the cockpit (except going through security of course). Still wear the hat of course, though alot from our airline don't. The overcoat was money well spent. The suit jacket with the stripes looks good, but it doesn't help with the cold, or with any form of precip very much. It is hard to maintain that crisp, clean appearance as a regional FO though, when you consider that we may have a six leg day in the midwest or northeast, having to post/preflight everytime in places like SBN, MSN, AZO, BUF, etc, trying not to fall and kill ourselves on the ice as gusts blast us with snow each time we do a turn. Those polished boots get covered with a nice coating of dirty slush, salt, and deice fluid by the end of the day. I always feel sorry for the ops guys that are out in it all day, but they don't have to look sharp like we do:) Best we can do is get it fixed back up in the hotel at night, and do it again tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud to wear a well maintained uniform, but in the winter it's not easy, as I'm finding out every day:)

...as you spend your valuable time responding

Like these?


http://www.everythingpanam.com/image...PA-reduced.jpg

they were probably inspired by these:

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/...MediaFile.7992

we let a guy walk around Boston for almost a month with his epaullets upside down and backwards. Good times.

Hey those are pretty nice...I'm diggin the white hats.

Yep, those were the days..... a crew of FIVE strapping men and all the Sterwardesses young, lovely, and thin.....

I haven't had to wear a uniform yet, and it might seem self explanatory... but I could see how it could be easily done wrong.

Thanks guys, I will especially not wear my epaulets backwards.

I just got lucky as I was putting my uniform together prior to Day 1 of IOE. I just took a stab as to which end went where, as I hadn't paid that close of attention to epaulets before. I got it right. My sim partner didn't, he told me later.

It's not just the young guys that look like slobs its the old ones as well.
My biggest complaint about people and uniforms are shoes and Shirts.
Please buy a fitted shirt that actually fits. Next Please buy yourselves a nice pair of shoes no Sketchers with 2in rubber soles that have work-boot tread. My first Professional flying job I alwas made sure I looked like a professipnal the captain I flew with on the other hand always wore these HiTech comat boots and it absolutly drove me crazy, besides the worn out dickies pants, the guy looked absolutley pitiful. You guys are Professionals dress like it.

Cute picture USMC. I’m not judging, just making an observation. I currently have no value in my time as I am sitting reserve in Korea at the Hanoi Hilton. Don’t mind me, I’m just bored and think it’s funny that you regional guys are debating uniform etiquette, lol. No offense, I’m just trying to pass the time in my cell.

I dont have a problem with the non fitted shirts....thats a bit anal.... just tuck the damn thing in every leg or so so it looks presentable. Screw the hat they look stupid.... but alas coming from the military in another life I usually do what I am told......

its all in fun

My reasoning behind the fitted shirts are that the others, on smaller bellied guys look like trash bags, and dont ever seem to look right.

I agree about the shirts, and it sucks. In training I ordered 4 shirts, because that's what they recommend and I didn't know better. The dang things are like wearing a parachute. There needs to be a little box on the order form that says "I am within the appropriate body weight for my size. Please don't send me an XXXXXL shirt."

Needless to say, I had to take mine to a tailor.

My personal favorite is the Freedom guys I see in ATL. They are by far the worst uniform offenders. Faded navy dockers, no hat, unbuttoned shirt, sagging tie, complete with worn black backpack (clashing of course with the aforementioned faded navy dockers), and visible IPOD. If its cold out throw in a nice non-matching Members Only jacket.:rolleyes:

Rick James: "I never put my muddy shoes on Eddy Murphy's couch.... come on, who would do something like that? (few seconds later) ..Yea, I put my muddy shoes on Eddy Murphy's couch."

Sorry reminded me of a episode of Dave Chapell. :D

In their defense...they don't have hats.

The rest of that is pretty dead on. I know Freedom in MCO generally look like homeless Top Gun extras...

Really? Theres a skinny end to the epaulets that matches the skinny end on the shirt. Pretty freaking idiot proof and you deserve to be called an idiot for putting on your uniform without looking in the mirror for 5 seconds. Seriously, everyone had to go to hell and back to get a 121 job and then you're going to go in public without any consideration for your uniform and embarrass the whole pilot group...

(not you but the guy you're defending)

I agree with the ironing, but starching your shirts, while it looks good, turns the collars yellow after a while. I iron the crap out them, but stopped using starch both at home and the cleaners.

Ive had some luck with bleach but time will tell after a year or so if they are still holding strong. I may just go to the old military wire collar stays that I had to keep the collar looking correct.

The only reason I use the starch anyway is the openings in the collars where they tend to droop at the top of the neck and not have that crisp look.

Yeah, mesa has the worst uniform standards. Actually, just delete the "uniform" part :rolleyes:

Starch doesn't hold up well after you sit in your seat and sweat for a while, so I don't bother any more. 100% cotton and starch works better in an office environment. The cotton/poly shirts hold up reasonably well once ironed.

The cotton/poly pilot shirts will turn yellow eventually...they'll last much longer if you dry on medium heat and iron on the lowest setting that will give you steam. Starch will hastend their demise.

Ring-around-the collar can be beat by applying stain remover to ther collar every wash. Or you can just rub in some detergent.

Whats wrong with a backpack?? And I didnt know I had to buy one that matched my uniform?? Should my bag and flight case be the same navy blue colored also? Maybe I could go the extra mile and buy a new car in navy blue too, hmmm but then I would have to wash and wax it everyday to keep up appearances so i guess not...

...that said I do agree with a Professional Look. I flew GoJets the other day and the FAs looked horrible, I was embarrassed for them. However, they were on the last leg of a four day and I know I never look as good going home as I did when I left for work. I like to have a good look when I fly (except the hat...never looks right on a female...) so I have my uniform pressed at the cleaners between trips and I take enough shirts to wear a clean one everyday (if I wanted to wear the same shirt the entire week I would fly 135 cargo) but sometimes things happen and you couldnt get your shirt ironed out on that (less than) 8 hour overnight. There is no excuse for continuos sloppiness but I can see excusing the "bad dress day" on occasion.

Also, Ipods...dont need to have them shoved in while on the a/c and personally I dont like to wear them in the term if I am just changing a/c. But IMO if you have a 4hr sit and you are just walking around the term they are ok, but thats just me.

Skip the phone calls on the walk around, never know when there might be a Fed watching you through the glass wondering how much attention you're really paying to looking at the plane

Agreed.
message....to.....short....

back packs make pilots look very unprofessional

there are several other words that i could replace unprofessional with

what would you suggest then? how 'bout those FFDOs backpacks? Unprofessional?