I have both arms sleeved down to my wrists but not visible with long sleeves. I know most places have a no visible tattoo policy and I see most pilots wearing short sleeve white shirts. What are my options? Am I able to wear long sleeve white shirts year-round? Do I just wear the jacket to cover them with the short sleeve under? Once the door closes and it's just us up there flying and the public cant see us do they still have to be covered? Just trying to figure out what my options are before I go and invest in flight school. Thanks.

I’ve only ever experienced guys with tattoo sleeves wearing long sleeve shirts year round. In a Captain position I couldn’t care less if you wore short sleeves in the cockpit once the door was closed. However, that might be playing with fire if there was an emergency egress and you didn’t have time to grab your coat. I can see all the social media posts in my head over that one. I’ll be be curious to see what others have to say.

Never say never, social mores change. Even the US military is accepting tattoos in quantities and content that they once would never have accepted because - yeah, they are getting desperate.



and the airlines are getting desperate too, but the more desirable ones are not all THAT desperate, not yet anyway. Substantial body art still puts you at a competitive disadvantage to your peers without it and probably will for another ten years or so anyway.

Assume that no airline will allow visible tats any time soon. We'll have beards long before that.

Full sleeves are fine as long as you wear long sleeves that cover them. So you might need thicker shirts. You would not be the only one.

At every airline I've worked at or heard of, it's your choice to wear long or short sleeves.

As far as jacket, there's a couple problems with that. Doing walk-arounds in 100+ degree heat / humidity in the summer will be rough. Cockpits can be very hot before the APU is started, which is usually 10-15 prior to departure, so you'd be doing all the pre-flight stuff potentially in sweltering heat. Depends on the plane and airline though. Also since there's a "visible tat" policy, some captains at some old-skool airlines might have an issue with an open display in the cockpit... somewhat understandable if you have an FAA or company inspector on the jumpseat. I wouldn't plan on the jacket, just long sleeves.


The military is not an apples to apples to airline pilots. I'm guessing you won't be seeing any commissioned officers with full sleeves, unless maybe they came up through the ranks.

Thanks so much. Good to know I at least have the option to be able to wear the long sleeves all year which is what I would just do.

Great information. I was thinking about getting a tattoo, I may have to reconsider.

Get the Steve-O “Your Name” tattoo.. He would joke that “Look, I have your name tattooed on my a$$, 😂..

UPS allows tattoos and beards. You would not be required to cover them. However currently UPS requires more PIC time in turbine aircraft then most these days but that can always change

Usually a non-issue at cargo outfits.

There's a guy in my new hire class who had full sleeve tats. No big deal - he wears long-sleeved uniform shirts and he's fine.

Some folks have very, very strong opinions on the parts of the uniform that you have discretion on - like short vs. long sleeved, leather jackets, sweaters with epaulettes....

Wear what you want within company guidelines. Fly airplane. Make money.