You don't have to represent an image anymore, you're free to walk around in your underwear if that's your thing.
Are you suggesting now that the alleged instructor go to McDonalds on his motorcycle in his underwear, in order to protect
your reputation? My, my. You
are arrogant.
Not wearing a jacket to cover his uniform leads me to believe he was taking extra measures to be sure everybody he passes sees that he's a pilot.
Interesting. Not wearing a jacket leads one to believe, in fact to know, that he wasn't wearing a jacket. The motive is unknown. One who engages in assumption engages in an unprofessional act.
I think it's the business of all professional pilots.
Simply because you think you should stick your nose in someone else's business, really doesn't make it your business.
You have a real beef with it, take it up with the employer of the individual, or contact him directly. Whining about it here changes nothing, but does make you look like a first class idiot. Mind your own business.
The problem here is that you can't take it up with the alleged instructor's employer, because the original poster doesn't even know that the person he saw on the bike was a flight instructor. That person could have been a regional pilot, a fractional pilot, a corporate pilot, or may not have been a pilot at all.
Moreover, the employer isn't known, nor are the employer's policies.
My employer has no policies regarding uniform wear off duty. None. Some wear their uniform home, and others won't even ride home in their uniform in an airline seat. The employer doesn't care when they're off duty, but does prescribe that when in transit to and from work, they WILL wear their uniform. This includes deadheading, commuting, jumpseating, and other forms of travel that may take place. The uniform is worn.
Another employer, for other reasons, requires no wear of uniforms at any time. That employer also requires a change of identity when going to work; the polar opposite. It's forbidden to wear a tee shirt off duty that identifies that employer. Quite frankly, I'm more than happy to abide whatever the employer requires, and do so. So far as what any other pilot wears, I couldn't care less.
The public already has a somewhat negative image of pilots. Riding around on motorcycles in uniform seems pompous and is in bad taste.
What a truly idiotic statement.
Are you asserting that somehow a motorcycle gives a pilot a bad image? What if we require all pilots to ride around in the back of a limousine? No other form of travel, of course, because that would demean the profession. Is that okay? No more crew vans. No more FBO rides to the hotel. No more taxi's. God help the pilot who is seen within 50' of a motorcycle. What is it about the blessed motorcycle that you find damages your personal sense of self worth?
Quite frankly, I know a number of pilots who ride motorcycles. Contrary to the assertion others have made here that doing so is strictly a sign of inexperience, these individuals fly as captains, first officers, and flight engineers internationally on large, complex turbojet airplanes...all have substantial experience, and all can afford other forms of transportation...but prefer their Harley to a pickup truck, BMW, or corvette. That you think it demeans you, for any of us to ride our motorcycles to and from work, to and from the grocery store, to through the drive-in at McDonalds, is YOUR problem. Not theirs, and not mine.
We're not only representing our specific company when we're in uniform, but we're also representing our profession.
When I put on a uniform, I couldn't give a stuff about you, or your profession. My uniform represents my work clothes. The costume I put on to go to work. I go to work not so you can get paid, but so I can get paid. Quite frankly, I don't care if you like my uniform, or the way I wear my uniform. You're not doing my job, and you're not collecting my paycheck. Your opinion on my uniform, or anyone else's for that matter, is therefore meaningless.
Your arrogance in assuming that you have any say in the matter, however, and your foolishness in sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, is well noted, and speaks quite poorly of you.
Yea I know, everything is done for you. You just put the AP on.
Where are they requesting catering at? The local 7/11?
You really don't know. Obviously. It's "Yeah," by the way.
I've left the airplane to go get catering for passengers or to stock an airplane on many occasions. It may be a quick bite to eat that the passenger has requested. It may be a specific kind of beer. It may be newspapers that aren't found at an FBO. It may be mini-booze of a particular kind that the client particularly likes. It may be that the client's dog threw up, and now we need more napkins. It's really not important why.
I've gone to restaurants in uniform while on duty. I've gone to 7-11 in uniform while on duty. I've gone to liquor stores while on duty, and in uniform. I don't drink. I may not have been going for food for myself. I've done all sorts of things for the company and for the client. I once went to a hardware store in uniform to get a roll of masking tape. I needed the tape to clean the dog hair out of the airplane, that the celebrity client's dog had left behind. I've gone tool shopping, gone into pet stores, picked up food and catering, and have delivered tennis rackets to movie stars (that they'd left behind on the airplane). I've done it in rental cars, busses, vans, limousines, and any other transportation I had. I would be more than happy to go do it on a motorcycle.
All one has to do is turn on the autopilot, you say? Are you actually a pilot, or do you only play with computer games and other such "simulators?"
