Uniforms at the instructing level

Seggy

Seggy

Well-Known Member
After seeing this video in this forum

http://forums.jetcareers.com/showthread.php?t=30351

I have to vent about something.

As a CFI and student you should absolutely act as well as dress in a professional manner. Nice khaki pants, a polo shirt with the flight school name, are MORE than acceptable for CFIs and students in training.

Those flight schools that require the use of epaulets, or an 'airline' type uniform from their instructors are VERY tacky in my mind.

Those types of uniforms should be saved for those that fly in an airline or corporate environment.
 
Seggy said:
After seeing this video in this forum

http://forums.jetcareers.com/showthread.php?t=30351

I have to vent about something.

As a CFI and student you should absolutely act as well as dress in a professional manner. Nice khaki pants, a polo shirt with the flight school name, are MORE than acceptable for CFIs and students in training.

Those flight schools that require the use of epaulets, or an 'airline' type uniform from their instructors are VERY tacky in my mind.

Those types of uniforms should be saved for those that fly in an airline or corporate environment.
Click to expand...

Agreed. . . what's ATP do? The standard khakis / slacks (khaki, black, grey, other conservative color) w/ a dress shirt or polo shirt?
 
ATP used to be Khaki pants and white polo shirts that said ATP on them, but the rumor mill has it they are going to those stupid uniforms for the students. They've stopped handing out the polo shirts, so I guess its coming soon. As an instructor though we wear a blue button down ATP shirt and black khaki's, I like it. Looks professional but not tacky like those "pilot" uniforms.
 
Exactly. I certainly don't think anyone should be kidding themselves when they are merely a student. As an instructor, I don't know. . . I think it's kinda cheesy to be wearing an "airline uniform" when a simple pair a slacks and polo or button down dress shirt would suffice.

But I'll follow the rules.
 
I wore a polo and cargo shorts most of the time. Flying in a 172/Seminole/Arrow in TX in 100 degree heat does not get any better wearing khaki pants.....
 
kellwolf said:
I wore a polo and cargo shorts most of the time. Flying in a 172/Seminole/Arrow in TX in 100 degree heat does not get any better wearing khaki pants.....
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:yeahthat:

Its not like dressing up to fly in a 172 will make you fly any better.
 
If I paid $45,000 for ATP's fast track rip off, I sure as hell wouldn't wear some stupid uniform. They could deal with it, or return my money.
 
At my flight school, we are required to wear a dress shirt and a tie...anyone else work at a school with this requirement? Just curious.
 
Man, a tie? That's a little over the top right there. A lot of the guys at the airlines have clip ons that come off as soon as the cockpit door is closed. Is there even a place to hang a clip on in a 172?
 
I don't like the tie requirement...it's uncomfy, unecessary and also requires wearing long pants (Buffalo does get steamy in the summer months). The wackest part is that our charter department only requires the pilots to wear a company issued polo and black pants. Plus I had to learn to tie a tie...frustrating.
 
KBUF said:
I don't like the tie requirement...it's uncomfy, unecessary and also requires wearing long pants (Buffalo does get steamy in the summer months). The wackest part is that our charter department only requires the pilots to wear a company issued polo and black pants. Plus I had to learn to tie a tie...frustrating.
Click to expand...

Yeah. . . that's going off the deepend.

In regards to dropping 30-45k on flight training, then being told what to wear. . . I don't know. . . gets old. I don't see it anywhere in the 141 regs that tell schools that they have to require their students to wear stilly airline uniforms. If it's for the sake of looking like a team, then great. But slacks and a standard polo shirt works just as well.
 
my old school was the schools polo and khaki's or decent jeans...they never specified footwear but I was told specifically no flops.
 
KBUF said:
I don't like the tie requirement...it's uncomfy, unecessary and also requires wearing long pants (Buffalo does get steamy in the summer months). The wackest part is that our charter department only requires the pilots to wear a company issued polo and black pants. Plus I had to learn to tie a tie...frustrating.
Click to expand...



That's easy............


Over, under, Over, Under.

Up, Down, Through.................



All Done :D
 
Somebody once said it's more impressive to those taking the tour to see guys that look like airline pilots doing the walk arounds. It's a marketing thing.

It makes me laugh uncontrollably when I see a CFI with stripes.
 
Airdale said:
ATP used to be Khaki pants and white polo shirts that said ATP on them, but the rumor mill has it they are going to those stupid uniforms for the students. They've stopped handing out the polo shirts, so I guess its coming soon. As an instructor though we wear a blue button down ATP shirt and black khaki's, I like it. Looks professional but not tacky like those "pilot" uniforms.
Click to expand...


Thats been the rumor for a year now. It was supposed to happen, never did. Don't think it ever will.
 
ATP seems (I say seems, because I've never gotten a straight answer on this) to allow the CP at the schools set up the given location rules. When I visited the GKY location, Kris (the CP) indicated that "uniform" shirts were supposed to come down the line and sort of shrugged. All of the instructors I saw (and the students) were wearing shorts (bloody hot here in Texas) and polos. What works in JAX or NJ is not necessarily good in TX, y'know?

It seems like business casual (call it Golf Course casual if you like) is the de rigeur standard in the FBOs I've toured as well, including SkyMates.
 
I recently visited a college aviation department that requires the typical pilot uniform with stripes to be worn by everybody, student pilot through CFI.

I straight up told the CFI I was visiting with that I thought pilot uniforms at that level looked goofy. He asked why I thought that, and I said, "You're flying a 152 for goodness sakes. This isn't rocket science." He said professionalism can start at any level. I said khakis and a polo look plenty professional and pilot uniforms are used more for marketing than anything else.

Then he made a point I hadn't heard before. He said he flew a cross country with a friend one weekend while off the clock, so he was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals. The line service workers didn't hardly give him the time of day when he pulled up to the FBO. The next day he flew the same trip to the same FBO with a student and they were both in uniform. The FBO staff treated them like royalty.

Is it worth looking like a goof to get better service? I don't know, but at least I can see the guy's point.

To play devil's advocate for a minute, I'll ask, what specifically is wrong with wearing a pilot uniform, besides it being unnecessary? Should uniforms be reserved as a mark for 135/121/corporate pilots, a symbol of somebody who has what it takes to go beyond instructing? I hear a lot of people make fun of pilot uniforms, including myself, but I don't hear many reasons for the ridicule besides, "It's really gay." So I'm asking....what makes it so ridiculous?
 
To me, I see it only as a marketing ploy.

In that time in place, I find it to be an extremely unethical business practice (though certainly legal. . . gotta make money I suppose). They sucker in the naive kids (lord knows we have too many of them running around Gulfstream, DCA, etc) with the uniform.

There's my .02c
 
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