The Airline Pilot Hat: What will become of it?

[Abernathy]

Rez, you're such a hack. The problem with you damned prima donnas is that you're too concerned with all the crap that doesn't mean a thing while losing sight of the real problems in this industry. Our profession isnt going down the tube because I dont wear the same headpiece a tip-collecting skycap wears. Its going down the drain beacuse we have morons like you who believe that not wearing a hat is ruining our profession.

 

[wms]

I saw a DAL FO on the train wearing his hat...and a black backpack and light blue windbreaker. Looked good.

 

[wms]

Really, it's that easy? I could use a few more bucks and a little bit of respect wouldn't hurt either......now where did I put that d@mn hat.

You hatters sure are funny!

woops

 

[wms]

Rez, you're such a hack. The problem with you damned prima donnas is that you're too concerned with all the crap that doesn't mean a thing while losing sight of the real problems in this industry. Our profession isnt going down the tube because I dont wear the same headpiece a tip-collecting skycap wears. Its going down the drain beacuse we have morons like you who believe that not wearing a hat is ruining our profession.

I'm not a hatter, but anyone who has been around just a few years can tell there has been a decrease in professionalism. Actually our profession is going down the tubes because we don't act professional much less look it. But we continue to insist we're professionals even though we act unprofessionally.

I talk to pilots all the time who say their ability as pilot has nothing to do with their behavior in the cockpit and their attitude. But when I go out to observe them it's easy to see that their image is an accurate refection of their proficiency and expertise.

With all the attention about lack of sterile cockpit, checklist discipline and the other elements of our job being so prominent nowadays, we need to examine ourselves honestly and be willing to look and perform the way we're expected to. Hats or Not.

 

[B727Driver]

skycap....now that is where the money is. They hide a bunch of cash.

 

[Abernathy]

I'm not a hatter, but anyone who has been around just a few years can tell there has been a decrease in professionalism. Actually our profession is going down the tubes because we don't act professional much less look it. But we continue to insist we're professionals even though we act unprofessionally.

I talk to pilots all the time who say their ability as pilot has nothing to do with their behavior in the cockpit and their attitude. But when I go out to observe them it's easy to see that their image is an accurate refection of their proficiency and expertise.

With all the attention about lack of sterile cockpit, checklist discipline and the other elements of our job being so prominent nowadays, we need to examine ourselves honestly and be willing to look and perform the way we're expected to. Hats or Not.

I have not been around long enough to comment on the trend of professionalism in this industry, however I am inclined to believe that you are right--in that it has taken a dive. My guess is it has something to do with hiring 19 year olds into the cockpit and paying them $17,000. I dont know what this has to do with Hats, as per the topic, except that some people dont dress professionally, hats or not.

The thought posed by Rez wasn't whether or not people are showing up to work looking sloppy and thus unprofessional. It was that the diminishing presence of hats is somehow an insult to our profession, and thats really just, for lack of a better word, dumb. I understand his sentiment, but my opinion, and apparently that of most participants in this thread, is that he needs to find something more significant to worry about.

Maybe next, Rez will suggest we wear white leather gloves in the cockpit and we can all show up to work looking like dandies.

 

[eaglesview]

Really, it's that easy? I could use a few more bucks and a little bit of respect wouldn't hurt either......now where did I put that d@mn hat.

You hatters sure are funny!

OK Guppieman Tell me your solution. Make sure it is one where the hat and looking professional is a hinderance. Like all of us you want and I dare say deserve "a few more bucks and a little bit of respect." However you do not want to do anything for it. You will talk about how crappy things are or how your management has screwed you and use that to justify your behavior and your attitude. At that point, when they change your outlook, they win. This does not mean that because I choose to wear a hat I roll over or do not know and enforce my contract. It simply means I have a little pride in how I look. Nothing more nothing less.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

I have not been around long enough to comment on the trend of professionalism in this industry,

Perhaps I have.

however I am inclined to believe that you are right--in that it has taken a dive. My guess is it has something to do with hiring 19 year olds into the cockpit and paying them $17,000. I dont know what this has to do with Hats, as per the topic, except that some people dont dress professionally, hats or not.

So how do you get that $17,000 figure up?

The thought posed by Rez wasn't whether or not people are showing up to work looking sloppy and thus unprofessional. It was that the diminishing presence of hats is somehow an insult to our profession, and thats really just, for lack of a better word, dumb.

No not really, read on.....

I understand his sentiment, but my opinion, and apparently that of most participants in this thread, is that he needs to find something more significant to worry about.

Such as? Can you quantify that?

Maybe next, Rez will suggest we wear white leather gloves in the cockpit and we can all show up to work looking like dandies.

Funny, you pay a pilot $350,000/year and he'll wear pink leather gloves and ball gag.

Since the profession has taken a nose dive, why not shuck the hat? What have you got to lose, except perhaps our image.


Actually, it is all about pilots being reactive. Not proactive. Pay them big bucks and they will wear a Capt. Jack Sparrow hat with eyeliner and a braided goatee... pay them crap wages and they will degenerate into the current form arguing about personal comfort.


Why is it when pilots want more money and picket they all bring their hats? Why is picket day special? As professionals do we fly the jet special one day and not so special the next?

The hat has nothing to do with actually flying the jet professionally. It has never been about that...... It has everything to do with image.

That image is part of our identity. As management treats us like airport workers and not professionals, more and more, we will start to believe it. Why should we be paid more if we are just like everyone else working at the airport. Why should we be paid more if mgmnt and ourselves don't believe it. If the public thinks we look professional and we act and look professional we'll start to believe.... and be it.

Passengers/public still call FAs stewardess. They still ask, what "route" you fly. While the old stereotypes of the profession still exist, they are being eroded to the point where Colgan BUF and MSP Flyover are redefining the profession negatively. Thankfully Sully/Skiles' event...... and the image they projected about the profession has breathed new life into our plight.

Any relationship, including one between the profession and the public is about trust and respect. It doesn't happen over night. If we look like common airport workers and we suffer a couple more Colgan BUFs, we are screwed.

So, it really comes down to .....it not being about how silly you feel....

It comes down to the hat being....

A unique identifier of profession and rank. Call it a brand logo. I don't care for it that much but I know its value and place. It is a tool to use to better our image.

Take that image and mystic away and we are nothing but common airport workers. No one else cares about the Profession. If we don't claim ownership, someone else will and I guarantee you they won't give a damn.

If we really believe that management thinks we are any different than aircraft cleaners, then we need to wake up. We are labor cost to be controlled. The reason why they like baggage carts better is because a baggage cart isn't in a union and doesn't require benefits.

 

[Abernathy]

So how do you get that $17,000 figure up?

Tread carefully, Rez. That is what I made at a "major regional" my first year.

As far as the rest of your post, I would have thought you were smart enough to realize that the hat does one thing to us. It reminds us that no matter how important we think we are, we are blue collar labor and we shall remain in our place.

 

[flyboyike]

To me this is more an issue of how I view myself than how others view me. Allow me to explain: at my airline hats are mandatory. I don't particularly like the hat, but I spent damn near a third of my life earning the right to wear the uniform of an airline pilot and, by golly, I will wear the whole uniform. Not because it elevates me above others, but because it's a symbol of the fact that my pilot group considered me worthy of joining them and, in return, I feel I must represent them to the best of my ability and that includes wearing my uniform properly, which in our case happens to include the hat. It's not an article of clothing, it's a part of a mindset, which I think what many people are missing.

One of our former Chief Pilots once made a good point. If a guy can't be bothered to put on a hat, who's to say he will bother to do a proper walkaround at zero-dark-thirty when it's 10 below and snowing? Or that he will bother to fly a stable approach? Or that he will do his paperwork correctly?

It's not about a fashion accessory, it's about attitude. At least, that's how I feel about it.