It's tempting, but I'm not buying it. We collect a paycheck, there are certain responsibilities associated with doing that. Wearing the uniform as proscribed is one.

I totally get your frustration - I feel it too.

So what's the deal, you have to wear either the leather jacket or the blazer, and only the hat with the blazer? So in the summer (when obviously no one would wear the leather) everyone has to wear the blazer with the hat?

Never said it. We had at least 5 or 6 different uniforms in the "nav" and we still looked professional wearing different uniforms.

Plus they were much higher quality than the Wal-Mart uniforms we have now that I won't wear. Tie and epaulettes. That's it.

No read the FOM 1-80 to be exact. I will give the guys credit for a very loose interpretation however. Very nice.

Are hats required?

Absolutely not!

Read pg 1-80 in the admin chapter and decide for yourself. It pretty clearly written.

I know, I know Hoss. I'm just extremely fed up with this place. Each id is a head scratcher. I'm thinking it really can't get any worse.

Curious how often I'll see CAL embroidered wings on shirts with pit stains cuz dude is too cheap.....

Cal doesn't have a monopoly on that market. You ever seen the dude who essentially lives in the basement at Dulles?

Do tell......

Oh yeah JB pilots have embroidered wings... another class act. :rolleyes:

All the Military services have embroidered wings! And even better they are velcro!!! :eek: Maybe they are onto something. In the civilian world you could have velcro wings and then if furloughed/fired/or quit the you could just take off one pair of wings and stick on the others!!;)

All this chitter chatter chitter chatter,
I think Snoop has a nice uniform, perhaps we ought to accessorize?

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/20...b__430x284.jpg

Fo' shizzle, my nizzle.


"This is your soul plane chauffeur Captain Antoine Mack
speaking. Welcome aboard NWA flight 069 from the 310 to the 212.
Its time to bust this coney yall. In a hot second, Ill be
hittin them switches and gettin this b**ch pumpin and jumpin.
So screw your sh*t on tight and enjoy the flight."

Wadr, we are concerned about embroidered wings?

Sorta kinda true.

NWA had a optional hat and leather jacket. The "offical" leather jacket was a really nice Gibson and Banres black jacket, with NO stupid patches for name tags or wings or anything else that makes you look like a twink. It looked like just a plain jacket, and the epaulettes velcroed on the tabs. It took about 5 seconds to go from work to street, and it was awesomely warm and could be wiped clean with a damp cloth. Folded up, it also make a tolerable pillow for that commute home. It did come with some pretty complex embroidery on the INSIDE (company logo on the back, and your name), so it was kind of unique.

Of course, it was expensive (~$450) and no rule is so lax that it can't be abused and so the Indian knock-offs soon appeared, and they looked, IMHO, awful.

Anyway, in comparison, the Delta double breasted thing takes two hands to button, so you have to put down whatever it is your carrying. Some guys did the "Velcro trick". Depending on the vendor it can be really hot, but worthless in the cold, if that's possible. For cold climates, you need an overcoat.

The only good news is the "mandatory" jacket wear is actually a very small part of the year. Hats are mandatory year round, and you always have to wear your "flair" (wings & name tag), either on your jacket or shirt.

FWIW, the company bought back all of the "official" leather jackets at the street price since we couldn't wear them any longer. Lots of people kept theirs. The guys with the knock offs were stuck with theirs.

Nu

Thanks for the background info.

12/12/13 Blastmail
 

"Due to the fact that some pilots have not received their new hats and the hat badge does not fit properly on some hats, the company has indicated that they will not enforce the hat policy until the vendor issues are resolved. Do not expect the company to put this in writing."

How exactly do they expect to enforce this policy? If they are going to remove pilots from trips then about 65% of the pilots have already shown they aren't going to wear the hat. There are going to be a lot of canceled flights in 2014.

I think there're trying to find a way out of that bind and this is the start. Hats required but not enforced until April 15 at which point they're not FOM required at all until October 15 at which point they'll become FOM optional.

That would work. I know lots of guys that don't have hats yet.

What's a hat?

If you look at really old aviation photos they wore them on their heads when they were flying in the cockpit. They didn't consider themselves a "professional" unless they wore the hat while they flew.

As I heard a few years ago: "My hat?, I set it down on my pension and now I can't seem to find it, sorry"

Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner.

Snoopy and the Red Baron wore them too...well, caps that is. But those caps don't hold a candle to the uber-professional-supercool wanker wheel caps our "profession" has devolved to...

Boy oh boy...how can we POSSIBLY act in a professional manner in a crew cockpit without our HATS?? How is it possible??

United could have saved MILLIONS by s*&%-canning hats (along with the chester-the-molester jackets) had they just had the courage to realize that the hats of yesterday are nearly DEAD in the United culture....

Ironic how some beat their chest following the contract to the letter, yet when a policy is the manual they pick and choose what they will follow. Seems like a double standard. Purely observation.

Discuss..... keyboard monkeys.

Your pension isn't lost.....Glen has it.

New company policy. All Lemmings, (uh...Co-Workers,) shall follow each other....right over the cliff.

Many, if not all, company policies are completely pragmatic and make perfect sense. A good example of this is the new, "Working Together Guidelines." :cool:

Following safety procedures to the letter is not the same as wearing a hat.

Especially when this is a NEW policy because previously at United Airlines, a hat is not mandatory. It was at Continental, but that airline doesn't exist anymore since United bought it.

Well, the company you "bought" is now making you wear your hat again. HA :p

No. Only if we wear the coat is the hat mandatory. I wear the leather jacket, which is not the coat, so no mandatory hat.

Nice try.

Good luck with that. I see a bulletin in the works.

It's a cover for your brain-housing group, according to Chesty Puller

FOM is very clear. No jacket = no hat. Leather jacket is substitute for coat.

Problem solved.

Weak......shanked that one Happy Gilmore

I actually spent some time in the USMC.

That was referred to as a "cover".

This guy has obviously never heard of a little thing called a revision...the rumor going around is that mgt will specifically target the dudes in leather jackets. :eek:

Yea, they're sending a pretty strong message in Howard's weekly message by publishing a pic of 10 pilots at TK in the new uniform and not a one of them wearing the hat. Yep, we better all fall in line or else.....

What are they gonna do? Pull me off the trip and send me home? Good. I can't drop a trip to save my life.