Dead Horse....Where is my bat!!!!

[KeroseneSnorter]

I normally would not do this, but I cannot stand it!!

6-21-06 CLT, C Concouse, 5 ish PM

To the express Captain walking down the concouse in uniform complete with hat(a nice touch when you read what follows), with the backcountry quality backpack fully installed across his back slouched over like a cave man from the weight.............You have got to be the most unprofessional mess that I have ever seen walking along in a crowded airport!!

I should know, I fly long haul freight and we pride ourselves on being an unprofessional mess!

I have voiced opinions before on the subject, out of boredom mostly on layovers....but until yesterday I never really came across one that looked so silly and out of place as this guy did. I mean it was bad, passengers (and there were hundreds at that time of day) were laughing, pointing and shaking their head!!

I kid you not, the guy was a living breathing walking Ed Bundy with a pilot uniform! I heard the passenger beside me say and I quote "Man, I am glad that moron was not my pilot, he looks like a refugee from some school for the mentally challenged"

I know this has been beat to death, but the passenger reaction to this was very very obvious.

Disclaimer: I do not work for any of the carriers based in CLT or that fly through there and I really could not care less if he was in approved uniform etc....but this guy looked really really stupid. He looked like he should be earning minimum wage at a Fast Food restaurant......which might be a reason so many people are starting to view professional pilots in that way!

Talk among yourselves.........

 

[ReportCanoa]

Maybe he was mentally challenged. Maybe he was carrying the junk from his locker as he is starting FedEx ground school in a few days.

Even more likey, the people clowning him were overweight with too many children for their income level, and probably didn't gradutate high school. Also, if you take a look at the average person in a terminal, you'll see why your pay sucks, and this guy can't afford a decent roll-aboard bag. Or maybe the rampies destroyed his.

 

[FN FAL]

The Ed Norton bus driver look is a little dated. Maybe it is time that airlines joined the new millennium and changed the uniforms to something a little more futuristic. Like red spandex spaceman/woman attire.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

Maybe he was mentally challenged. Maybe he was carrying the junk from his locker as he is starting FedEx ground school in a few days.

Sadly this guy had his brain bag with him, and the back pack was a high $ one built for day packing. I forgot to mention the wrinkled shirt, loose tie, two top buttons undone, and rats nest of hair hanging out from under the hat......too busy gawking at the upper body eyesore to notice if he was sporting a nice pair of black sneakers, but it would not surprise me. The guy that made the comment quoted was a business type in a nice suit. You know the type that spends large $ on lots of first class travel every year and pays for a lot of the pilots toys and ex wives!

FN-FAL- I do not think that your described spandex outfit could have pulled a better reaction from the paying passengers than this guy did!!

Really guys, I am used to seeing just about anything in airports from flying all over the planet, but this guy was really quite the specimen of what is happening to our profession.

 

[sleddriver77]

While we're at it...

To the Jackass I passed in CLT a few weeks back who was walking thru the terminal with his shirt partially unbuttoned with epaulets on and no tie, you have NO IDEA how close you came to getting kicked in the nuts by the "uniform nazi" captain I was with. It's a good thing he couldn't jump the railing of the moving sidewalk due to the throng of passengers you were riding along with and in plain sight of. Fair warning: We decided that the next time we see you walking thru the terminal like that, you WILL be taking a shot to the twig and berries. It just looks $%^&ing sloppy. Yeah, I know it's hot out, I grew up in Alaska; but manage to deal with the uniform in the heat just fine, so you probably can too. If you're gonna take the TIE off, take the epaulets off, too. And those of you JSing/Non-Revving in plain clothes (or uniform sans tie and epaulets), please stuff your ID into your shirt pocket. You have no idea what a frigging dork you look like with a CREW ID in a polo shirt. And PLEASE pass this piece of information around to any FA's you see who are non-revving dressed like a trailer park hooker. (For some reason, CLT is famous for THAT.) Betcha the airlines would prefer passengers not see her ID hanging around her neck dressed like that.

 

[81Horse]

... I heard the passenger beside me say and I quote "Man, I am glad that moron was not my pilot, he looks like a refugee from some school for the mentally challenged" ...

And you said, as you indicated the great, unwashed, unkempt masses swirling around the concourse, "Sir, just remember: you get what they pay for."

 

[ReverseSensing]

shirt partially unbuttoned with epaulets on and no tie.... If you're gonna take the TIE off, take the epaulets off, too.

Sorry, my airline has a dress policy that permits the CA (in certain circumstances) to authorize the crew to not wear a tie; however, it requires that the remainder of the uniform be worn, including epaulets. It also requires both crewmembers to either wear the tie or go tie-less. See, this is the problem with assuming that the guy you saw was "slouching." Any chance he was following his company policy to the letter, or was he from the same airline so that you're sure you know the dress policy?

And those of you JSing/Non-Revving in plain clothes (or uniform sans tie and epaulets), please stuff your ID into your shirt pocket.

I agree with you 100% on this one. If you are not in uniform and/or not on the SIDA at your base in street clothes, your ID should be presented (as necessary), not worn.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Flightinfo Gangstas, I love 'em.

 

[SSDD]

I thought I had seen everything until I saw a DL FO in SLC the other day...long hair coming out from under the hat, wrinkled shirt and leather backpack...when the General said there was a new generation of Delta pilots, he wasn't kidding.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

And you said, as you indicated the great, unwashed, unkempt masses swirling around the concourse, "Sir, just remember: you get what they pay for."

Actually had I not been in uniform I would have agreed with the guy. The unkempt masses are the ones paying the paychecks. They are the ones buying the brand and the image the airlines sell which includes their perceived safety and piece of mind. The money they pay gives them the right to dress as they like....even if the airlines are selling the tickets cut rate.

I am positive that USAir lost a few customers yesterday due to this pilot. Probably not from the cut rate crowd, but from the more important businessman types. Cut rate passengers pay for pilot mortgages, business customers pay for pilot boats and other toys.

I have an uncle in business for himself, he spends huge sums of money every year on first class travel and is loyal to the carriers he uses, until he perceives a lack of safety or servce, then he takes his business elsewhere quickly, even if it is not the most convienent choice for his travel. Away from work he is an average joe in sneakers and shorts, at work and around his clients he is spit and polish...and he makes a very very good living doing it. He expects the same from a "Professional" orginization that hauls him around at 600 mph.

A loss of even one of his type hurts...do it enough and you are out of business.

 

[ceo_of_the_sofa]

You'd have a ball in Philly. No, seriously, there's a little camp ground in front of Sbarro's and Chao's. Quite entertaining sometimes.
I am glad PDT doesn't require hats though, it's hot.

 

[Simon Says]

Actually had I not been in uniform I would have agreed with the guy. The unkempt masses are the ones paying the paychecks. They are the ones buying the brand and the image the airlines sell which includes their perceived safety and piece of mind. The money they pay gives them the right to dress as they like....even if the airlines are selling the tickets cut rate.

I am positive that USAir lost a few customers yesterday due to this pilot. Probably not from the cut rate crowd, but from the more important businessman types. Cut rate passengers pay for pilot mortgages, business customers pay for pilot boats and other toys.

I have an uncle in business for himself, he spends huge sums of money every year on first class travel and is loyal to the carriers he uses, until he perceives a lack of safety or servce, then he takes his business elsewhere quickly, even if it is not the most convienent choice for his travel. Away from work he is an average joe in sneakers and shorts, at work and around his clients he is spit and polish...and he makes a very very good living doing it. He expects the same from a "Professional" orginization that hauls him around at 600 mph.

A loss of even one of his type hurts...do it enough and you are out of business.

You hit the nail on the head with this one. I am sure your uncle is running out of airlines to fly on with the direction this industry has been going. Pretty soon he may be taking Greyhound.

 

[MEL'ed]

He expects the same from a "Professional" orginization that hauls him around at 600 mph.

I agree, he must be out of airlines if he leaves each time he sees a pilot dressed scummy. 600 mph in my express plane would make the paint come off, if not the entire wing wing. So maybe your uncle really doesn't expect a profesional attitude from me. I hardly ever go half that speed.

Pilots carry backpacks around for different reasons. Some Colgan guys do it since they hardly ever have an overnight, but have long days wehere they want to take a few belongings. I did it once when I was going on a personal trip at the end of my scheduled flying and didn't want to take the last DH home. Changed into street clothes, put all my flying stuff in the backpack and sent it and my case home wih the pilot flying the last leg. Other pilots pack food in them for a several day trip. I still don't see what the big deal is.

If you had such a problem with this guy, why didn't you say something to him directly?

 

[CA1900]

If you had such a problem with this guy, why didn't you say something to him directly?

:laugh:

You must be new to Flightinfo....

 

[Hulk Hogan]

If pax have an issue with the way pilots look I can only imagine what they must think when they see their airplane pull up with fadded paint or missing paint, mismatching nosecones and doors, and or dirt streaming down the side. And that is just the outside.

 

[CA1900]

You mean like this?

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9486/844ca15hf.jpg


:lol:

 

[scar1900]

I have an uncle in business for himself, he spends huge sums of money every year on first class travel

Too bad the pilots never see any of that money.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

Too bad the pilots never see any of that money.

Sadly we used to. It bought me a nice boat!

Back then though everybody ironed their shirts and tried to look the part that passengers expected them to look................I wonder if the slobby look came before or after the payscale drop?

Come to think of it, I remember the beginnings of this back in the high pay days, started with the younger guys not wanting to wear hats or substituting Dockers for the uniform pants...........Cause and effect? Or is it just the attitude that rules of your employer do not apply to certian "cool" people?

Reminds me of an HBO documentary years back about street gangs, Interviewer asked a group why they didn't want to take a job instead of wasting their life in drugs and crime. The homie answered something to the effect of "Since drugs are always going to be around why shouldn't I be a drug dealer, I was born into this man!"

If we ever want to reverse the trend in the industry, it sure isn't going to be done by "Screw it man, I will dress as crappy as I like cause there will always be airline CEO's trying to drag me down, why should I try to change anything? I was born into the RJ's holmes."

The new generation seems to believe all that crap the ceo's have been pushing the last 10 years about pilots being overpaid bus drivers. From the comments on this board it looks like a good number of the population is content to allow the flying public and business types believe it.

In any business the guys that make the most money get paid for what they know, not what they do. If we collectivly look like a bunch of uneducated morons..........well that is how we will be perceived and paid.

Home Boy yesterday looked like a complete moron.......and every passenger around noticed.

Didn't anybodys folks ever teach them the value of first impressions, or have we come into the crowd raised by the hippies of the 60's and they missed that lesson?

 

[pilot772]

I normally would not do this, but I cannot stand it!!

6-21-06 CLT, C Concouse, 5 ish PM

To the express Captain walking down the concouse in uniform complete with hat(a nice touch when you read what follows), with the backcountry quality backpack fully installed across his back slouched over like a cave man from the weight.............You have got to be the most unprofessional mess that I have ever seen walking along in a crowded airport!!

I should know, I fly long haul freight and we pride ourselves on being an unprofessional mess!

I have voiced opinions before on the subject, out of boredom mostly on layovers....but until yesterday I never really came across one that looked so silly and out of place as this guy did. I mean it was bad, passengers (and there were hundreds at that time of day) were laughing, pointing and shaking their head!!

I kid you not, the guy was a living breathing walking Ed Bundy with a pilot uniform! I heard the passenger beside me say and I quote "Man, I am glad that moron was not my pilot, he looks like a refugee from some school for the mentally challenged"

I know this has been beat to death, but the passenger reaction to this was very very obvious.

Disclaimer: I do not work for any of the carriers based in CLT or that fly through there and I really could not care less if he was in approved uniform etc....but this guy looked really really stupid. He looked like he should be earning minimum wage at a Fast Food restaurant......which might be a reason so many people are starting to view professional pilots in that way!

Talk among yourselves.........

Saw him today.

he wasn't express though he was mainline US Air. unless there is another guy running around CLT with a huge backpack on and a flight case in his hand

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

Saw him today.

he wasn't express though he was mainline US Air. unless there is another guy running around CLT with a huge backpack on and a flight case in his hand

Good God!! Don't tell me there are two of those idiots running around Clt?

The guy I saw was Express, maybe he has a father that works for mainline!!

 

[crxpilot]

Really............who cares? Better check yourself. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Another couple of our guys died today in Iraq, let's keep it real here.

 

[LR25]

The Ed Norton bus driver look is a little dated. Maybe it is time that airlines joined the new millennium and changed the uniforms to something a little more futuristic. Like red spandex spaceman/woman attire.

I wish we could wear tight black pants, a gold shirt with a Star Fleet emblem and a communicator, oh wait, we do have the communicator, but anyway.

Make it so.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

Really............who cares? Better check yourself. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Another couple of our guys died today in Iraq, let's keep it real here.

I may not be the prettiest fellow around, but at least I iron my shirt, keep my hair cut neat and shave......on my work days anyhow!!

As far as the war, I hate to hear anytime one of our boys go down. I fail to see how that is relevent to this conversation. Are you saying that since a war is being fought that we are allowed to go around looking like a dog turd with a pilots license?

 

[LearLove]

Kerosene - just checking this site before I leave to commute to DCA for my trip on the 23rd. Guess what ???? I'm not gonna wear my tie. And I don't own an FO hat either.

O, NO the Horror

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

Kerosene - just checking this site before I leave to commute to DCA for my trip on the 23rd. Guess what ???? I'm not gonna wear my tie. And I don't own an FO hat either.

O, NO the Horror

Well I hardly ever wear underwear but you don't see me bragging about it on the internet.....oh wait.......

I have a question that might shed light on the subject (stupid Psch. degree always keeps me thinking) What are the ages and backgrounds of the opposing sides in this issue? No specifics of course, just curious about which generation the change in professional attitude and what is acceptable in the business/professional world changed.

Me, mid thirties, parents were raised in the late fifties (High school at least). Background flight is CFI, 135 freight, regional, major, Corporate and 121 freight. Worked since I was 15, College in the late 80's. Only had one interview in my life that I did not get a job offer from both aviation and non-aviation.(First regional interview) Somehow managed an offer from all the rest. (Now that I have said that I am probably hosed on my next one!! )

If you guys are willing I am just demented enough to be interested in the results. ukeToo bad I didn't show more interest in school, I might be a Doctor now rather than a pilot!!!)

 

[Fly2Scuba]

Saw a gal in CLE from Commutair, walking around with a purse backpack and carrying a vinyl lunch bag going out towards the exit. Very unprofessional and dumb looking. When are the ladies going to realize that purse backpacks especially in uniform (unfreekingprofessional) and even out of uniform don't look good. And capris are even worst. Now an adventure backpack on a in-shape woman not in uniform is very sexy.

 

[PSAChiefPilots]

While we're at it...

To the Jackass I passed in CLT a few weeks back who was walking thru the terminal with his shirt partially unbuttoned with epaulets on and no tie, you have NO IDEA how close you came to getting kicked in the nuts by the "uniform nazi" captain I was with. It's a good thing he couldn't jump the railing of the moving sidewalk due to the throng of passengers you were riding along with and in plain sight of. Fair warning: We decided that the next time we see you walking thru the terminal like that, you WILL be taking a shot to the twig and berries. It just looks $%^&ing sloppy. Yeah, I know it's hot out, I grew up in Alaska; but manage to deal with the uniform in the heat just fine, so you probably can too. If you're gonna take the TIE off, take the epaulets off, too. And those of you JSing/Non-Revving in plain clothes (or uniform sans tie and epaulets), please stuff your ID into your shirt pocket. You have no idea what a frigging dork you look like with a CREW ID in a polo shirt. And PLEASE pass this piece of information around to any FA's you see who are non-revving dressed like a trailer park hooker. (For some reason, CLT is famous for THAT.) Betcha the airlines would prefer passengers not see her ID hanging around her neck dressed like that.

Saw the same guy (or one similar), Very young "KID", definitely not one of ours or I would've stopped him, On the concourse we were on, could only be one of three Co's and I've ruled ours out...Here goes the flaming...

And he's right, TIE and Epaulets or no tie and Epaulets...We are not gate agents, these were not optional with the Pilots.

PSACPSP

 

[bizicmo]

Back in my day, we walked 10 miles to school in the snow uphill both ways.
Back in my day, we respected our elders.
Back in my day, we didn't have these modern conveniences, we did it with blood and sweat.
Back in my day, we ...........................
and on and on and on.
Well our parents are of the woodstock generation so give us a break.
We can't all be high and mighty.

 

[The_Russian]

Wear your uniform and stop crying. Yeah, and the hat too. Geez. Didn't we all grow up wanting to be pilots? Now all you want to do is fight your dream? I am proud of my uniform. I am sorry that you guys aren't.

 

[bizicmo]

I wear my uniform. I just can't stand people complaining about it.