Hacker15e
Who am I? Where are my pants?
F15E?
Yes indeed. What I fly currently and have most of my time in.
F15E?
Yes indeed. What I fly currently and have most of my time in.
I think that's a very narrow minded approach to 'professional'. I operate in a professional environment, too. What I wear matters a great deal not only to the people who work for me, but the general public that we all work for. USAF General officers don't seem to have a problem with wearing their leather jackets with their blues uniforms at the Pentagon and on The Hill in DC. If it's professional enough to rub elbows with Senators and Congressmen...
Besides, I don't think that the general public sees the leather jacket as unprofessional in any way. In fact, I think the fact that they associate the jacket with military flyers, and in turn hold military flyers in particularly high regard, means that they see airline pilots wearing it in similar regard.
PCL, I understand and appreciate people who are trying to uphold the professional image of airline pilots -- I'm in total agreement. The specific things that are attacked in the name of 'professionalism', however, often perplex me.
The BIGGEST thing that I think hurts the airline pilots' professional image to the general public is that they have an identity complex -- they want to be both white collar and blue collar at the same time. They want to belong to an 'elite' club and be paid/regarded as such, but also want to group themselves in with 'labor'.
I'm not saying that's wrong...you don't have to explain to me why that is that way.
I'm saying that as an outsider looking in, that is really a confusing contrast, and Joe Public does not understand the complexities that drive those matters. It's tough to reconcile a suit-wearing professional with the actions of a person they expect to see picketing outside a steel mill somewhere.
If airline pilots are concerned about their professional image to the public, leather jackets are miniscule potatoes compared to the image problem presented by picketing pilots.
speaking of ALPA stickers, would a proby get skinned alive for slappin a sticker on one of his case's...is that something that CA's can do, no-no for the short man on the #### stick? (less than a year, still on probation)
Well...
I don't have the pin yet..
I would readily walk the picket line and I do have a "No Scabs" sticker on my overnight bag..![]()
We don't engage in the "thuggery" tactics that many other unions have,
My best advice to you on trying to understand the admittedly complex situation is to read three different works, all by the same professor: "The Air Line Pilots, A Study in Elite Unionization," "Flying the Line, Vol I," and "Flying the Line, Vol II."
You're obviously unfamiliar with the history of the scumsucking scumbag pilot group at Northwest Airlines.
That, or our definitions of "thuggery" differ. Radically.
Please take a walk through the Delta terminal in Atlanta and compare a Delta pilot (99% always very sharply dressed, with a well-fit blazer and HAT) versus a regional pilot wearing a leather jacket (or no jacket at all) and no hat. There is no comparison. Any excuse you make to the contrary is just rationalization to make yourself feel ok for looking less professional for the sake of your own comfort/ego. And if you don't think the customers notice (especially business passengers who are used to making quick judgments of people based on their appearance and behavior), you're even more delusional.
I agree. They do look sharp. Nobody on here has said anything to the contrary.Please take a walk through the Delta terminal in Atlanta and compare a Delta pilot (99% always very sharply dressed, with a well-fit blazer and HAT) versus a regional pilot wearing a leather jacket (or no jacket at all) and no hat. There is no comparison. Any excuse you make to the contrary is just rationalization to make yourself feel ok for looking less professional for the sake of your own comfort/ego. And if you don't think the customers notice (especially business passengers who are used to making quick judgments of people based on their appearance and behavior), you're even more delusional.
HOWEVER: Show me one passenger who has refused to fly because one or both pilots wore a leather jacket and I'll show you someone who needs serious therapy.
(especially business passengers who are used to making quick judgments of people based on their appearance and behavior), you're even more delusional.
As do I. I just do it in a leather jacket during the winter. During the Fall & Spring, I wear the blazer.It's not about whether a passenger will refuse to fly based on it. I don't know about you, but I don't just do the very minimum in my job that keeps people from going to another airline next time. I try to do my very best so that the passengers don't just come for the cheap ticket, they also think it's a professional operation.
PCL - I think you're just going to have to agree to disagree with everyone who supports wearing the leather jacket. We get that you don't like it and you know some folks who support your view.PCL_128 said:That's about uniform appearance,
Agreed, and I'll add that it's about a pilots commitment to this profession, his or her preparation, his or her desire to be a better pilot.....but that has absolutely ZERO to do with what a person wears.PCL-128 said:good customer service, a smooth flight, etc... It's all part of the complete package.
That was mandatory at Eagle.Neither of us give a rat's ass about how the pilots are dressed. Get me where I want to go safely and on time and I don't care if you're wearing a little boo peep outfit and your FO is dressed up as a sheep.
Now, if management said "Okay, we're going to polos and khakis," he might have a point. That would be a serious alteration of the pilot uniform. I don't see the jacket as doing that