I think it's silly to even try to qualify who gets wings and who doesn't. If you need a silly piece of metal to justify your skill...

If you are issued wings as a part of your uniform, and required to wear them, then you wear them.

Nothing makes a real pilot laugh more than the guy at a flight school or FBO wearing "private pilot" wings or epaulettes. Even universities that wear them as part of their flight training makes the wearer a tool.

Airline/Military pilots wear wings. Some corporate guys (sort of). Thats about it.

Always wear your wings and your hat when you fly. Nothing makes you look more like a real aviator then your airline hat with a pare of David&Clarks over the top of them.

If it makes you feel good do it. Lol I never wear my issued wings on my shirt. It just gets in the way of the shoulder harness

Yeah, the only time I've had to deal with that at a flight school was for contract work. Airlines would have their cadets wearing uniforms from day one, and they pay the bills.

I felt ridiculous wearing epaullets and climbing out of a Cessna 152, but the decision was way above me. Still, most of us wore the sweater over it all, which worked well in a poorly sealed Cessna.

TSA doesn't have wings. Unless you were a cqfo from xjet then we do.

You can't think of the wings as being symbolic of an aviation achievement, like you probably do of military wings.

Instead, they're simply symbolic of your employment at a particular shop. When you are given them varies between where you work.

At the regional airline I worked at, I was given the wings unceremoniously by my the examiner after my LOE simulator session at the very end of training.

At the major I work at, I was given them after only a few weeks of non-flying indoctrination training (basically still at the beginning of training -- I hadn't even see the inside of a simulator yet) in a fancy-ish formal ceremony that family/friends are invited to attend.

Overall, it is simply a uniform item that socially has less value and meaning than in the military.

Private pilots, or pilots earning advanced ratings, aren't "real pilots"?

Classy.

When I had 50 hours and a PPL, I did not consider myself a real pilot. It wasn't until I was signing my name for a jet with paying passengers in the back that I felt like a real pilot. Even when I was flying a turboprop on the west coast full of rubber dog doodoo, I didn't consider myself to be a "real" pilot yet. I still had way too much to learn to be that cocky.

I still have a lot to learn, but I do consider myself a real pilot.

Maybe for a military guy, it was something different - a stage when they issued you wings that you earned.

But that is just me.

Good for you Hacker! I didn't know you had left our shop! Sadly though, your story just reinforces the Dickensesque "Tale of Two Cities" reality that exists in the industry for doing the same damn job. Glad you made it out.

Yes, thanks. I had a great time there with the folks I flew with, and really appreciate the opportunity I had to fly there and learn the 121 business. I'm fond of saying, "I loved every day except payday!"

That being said, working at a career destination is better in every way imaginable. Hopefully you're able to make your own escape soon!