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Discussion: Leather Uniform Jackets

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B-777 pilot with a leather jacket = unprofessional looking
Turbo-Prop/RJ driver with a dress coat = lame

also, I wear a leather jacket (and I like it) but I feel stupid when the other pilot is wearing the dress coat, the two just don't match up.
 
belchfire said:
Ah, the leather comes back to haunt you again and again! ;)

Do you do your regular tours in the sim? Do you not practice emergencies like "Smoke in the Cockpit"? I know that it's not likely but what is going to give you more protection-and thereby more time to fight a fire- your poly/wool blazer or a leather jacket!
Click to expand...

The poly will melt to ones skin....
 
MarineGrunt said:
No way. Not even close. I just saw the Mesa windbreaker for the first time the other day. Up to that time, I just thought it was a flightinfo urban legend....

I can see how people would have a problem with the leather jacket, but a freaking WINDBREAKER???? How can a "professional" airline pilot even think of wearing something like that? YGBSM. No excuse for that one.
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It's a slippery slope, my friend. First, the leather jacket. Then a windbreaker. Soon it will be no ties. Etc... Our professional image is being slowly whittled down to nothing, and we're active participants in the process!
 
The leather jackets are so cool, or maybe "neato" is a better word? I especially like the epaulets on them! When you take the epaulets off for cruising chicks at night it still has those epaulet "straps" so the girls will know you are a real pilot (in case the watch doesn't give you away first).

And what the hell is up with those sweaters with epaulets on them!?? I actually started laughing out loud passing through ORD last tour when I saw two guys walking together with them on. I would say it looked pretty gay but this is a family show.

Extra points!!: Wear your hat with either the sweater or the leather jacket. Can't believe the pilot groupies don't jump ya right in the terminal.
 
PCL_128 said:
It's a slippery slope, my friend. First, the leather jacket. Then a windbreaker. Soon it will be no ties. Etc... Our professional image is being slowly whittled down to nothing, and we're active participants in the process!
Click to expand...


Adapt- change with the times....

UAL pilots wore all khaki uniforms.
Pan Am pilots wore no stripes on blazer sleeves.
Pan Am pilots hats were white.


ALPA's recent 75 year picture has an airmail pilot with flying goggles and exposure suit next to the modern day image.

More and more airlines are making leather jackets optional. And pilots are exercising that option. Reality is real regardless what you want it to be....

You can insist that the sky isn't blue.....
 
Rez O. Lewshun said:
Adapt- change with the times....

UAL pilots wore all khaki uniforms.
Pan Am pilots wore no stripes on blazer sleeves.
Pan Am pilots hats were white.
Click to expand...

Yes Rez, you make a great point. During the airmail/barnstorming days leather was the best material available. Today we have microfibers, Teflon, etc. that is much better, lighter, and can be made into professional looking garments. Some of these garments actually cover your a$$ too! Unlike the leather jacket in Fargo in February.
So lets change with the times and dump the open cockpit look.
 
Pilots at the regionals have lost most everything else, does it really make a difference what they wear? That goofy @ss blazer is conveying a professional message to an audience that isn't listening and could give two sh!ts. Alot of the flying public doesn't even regard RJs as real airplanes! Let 'em wear polo shirts and jeans for all anyone cares.
 
Was commuting home on a E145 one day, and the F/O had to use the head - he walked through the cabin with his coat and hat on.

<shivers>

Trust me, it ain't what we wear that makes some of us look dorky/unprofessional.

...and good point about the whole 777 and t-prop thing. Very tacky to be pimped out in a suit standing by the door of a B1900.

Also, Seven, you might be an "airline" pilot so you might look better in a jacket/coat/hat. I fly for a living, so the leather works for me. <G> :)
 
twighead said:
Are they cool or are they for spikey hair, Tom Cruise wannabe's.

. . . yes I am that bored.
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They aren't brown leather, so there's no mistake for Naval Aviator wannabe's.

They're great for dual purpose wear so you don't have to bring another jacket for layovers.
 
PCL_128 said:
It's a slippery slope, my friend. First, the leather jacket. Then a windbreaker. Soon it will be no ties. Etc... Our professional image is being slowly whittled down to nothing, and we're active participants in the process!
Click to expand...

You left out integrety in management, good union representation, payscales and benifits-they went first!

Ya know, even the military is smart enough to have tieless summer uniforms...for those of you who have forgotten what it's like to stand on the ramp waiting for passengers when it's 100/98 with no apu to cool the office down...

I'll tell you what is pathetic is seeing the one numbskull wandering through the Hartsfield terminal in the middle of the summer with his blazer on (buttoned up no less!) when everyone else has followed the book and ditched the thing for the prescribed time period because it's hotter than the hubs of hell outside!

Pride in the uniform can be misplaced...
 
Last edited:
I like the leather jacket.

The leather jacket is worn when it's cold, no jacket at all when it's warm. This makes the uniform simple. Look around at the various business people on your airplane, and what are a lot of them wearing? Leather jackets (and no hats). The argument that they are unprofessional is simply mis-guided in my opinion. I think epaulettes on the lether look fine too, even though we don't wear them that way.

In the end as long as everyone adheres to the uniform standards their company has set forth, I don't care one way or the other, even if that includes windbreakers.
 
It the only option we have at SWA. Sorry.

I did see a guy wearing a leather jacket over top of his trench coat... Mesa I think.
 
Rez O. Lewshun said:
He was a soul aviator counting on only one thing..... himself.... in his day he relied on his skill, experience and instinct. He didn't have an enclosed cockpit, turbines, EGPWS, ILS, anti skid, and cowl heat. He also didn't have an Association to back up his right to PIC authority. He was killed before Dave got it started.

What is this "soul aviator" that you speak of?
Click to expand...
 
fatdumbandhappy said:
B-777 pilot with a leather jacket = unprofessional looking
Turbo-Prop/RJ driver with a dress coat = lame

also, I wear a leather jacket (and I like it) but I feel stupid when the other pilot is wearing the dress coat, the two just don't match up.
Click to expand...


Senior 777 blazer-wearing pilot making what a senior leather jacket wearing 737 pilot makes is lame!

SWA rocks...

Airlines with leather jackets that have shown positive cash flow recently...

UPS
Fed Ex
SWA
AirTran
US Airways
Kalitta Air

W/O Leather...
Continental

I won't bother with the loosers...
 

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