Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
  • Share the passion for aviation
  • Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun

What is with the HAT argument?

Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends
  • Share the passion of aviation
  • Friendliest aviation community on the web
leave it at home OR Try to sell it on Ebay, may be you can get better health ins, and your retirement back for it.
 
When we see pictures or video of NWA pilots on the picket line (see latest Centerline), why are we always wearing our hats?

My theory: It helps the public immediately identify us as pilots.

Just a thought...

Picket line? Are the NWA Pilots on strike over something? What is going on?

But...getting back to the subject at hand....I've never yet been mis-identified while not wearing my hat...and it is optional....few wear theirs...most don't...and it doesn't affect profits....or my profit sharing.
 
Simple Observation

Here's a simple, non-scientific observation for you. In our house hats are optional. I've noticed the majority of the guys who wear them have little or no hair and the guys that don't wear them have a full head of hair. Personally, I hated wearing the hat. I always wore it (on my head) when it was required and as soon as it became optional I ditched it. I still have my hair by the way (although it is starting to thin a little on the crown). I hated having "hat hair" while standing in the door saying bu-bye and the massive sweating it created during the summer. I don't think a hat is required to project a professional image. JMHO.
 
I still find it funny watching just about any movie with pilots in it and they are wearing their hats and blazers WHILE FLYING


dang Im supposed to take off the Hat when I fly... no wonder my Capts have been laughing at me! :) Just kidding

In all honesty I came from a no hat airline to a hat during winter airline (Xjet to CAL). Intially I didnt like it but honestly when wearing a blazer I think it looks more professional with a hat. However during the summer months I gladly mount the hat at its place on honor in the top of my closet.

And honestly whether you like it or not, The hat is part of the job... The books says wear it... so you wear it. Plain and simple.
 
Last edited:
Not at all. I don't care if someone wears their hat. I think it presents an enhanced image of professionalism...but I don't really care if anyone else agrees with me.

What I think is lame is adopting the position that you should alter your personal integrity because someone else alters theirs.

You opening comment on the hat issue was, "And management told many of us they would fund our retirement."

That's an attempt to rationalize your adherence to a rule you agreed to abide based on someone else's status as a weasel.

It might be trivial when applied to the issue of hats, but I hope you see the broader impact.

My boss, or his booger-eating surrogates, acting like indifferent scumbags does not justify me acting like one. That's not an "image" issue...it's personal integrity.


You are right. So correct in fact that I plan on wearing my hat during my oral next week. Should get some bonus points for looking professional and I can feel ethical at the same time.
 
You are right. So correct in fact that I plan on wearing my hat during my oral next week. Should get some bonus points for looking professional and I can feel ethical at the same time.

Use a Sharpie to write the limitations on the sweat band.
 
Well . . . . it's always been my experience that the guy who is most concerned about the hat/shoes/uniform/newspaper-reading is almost invariably a lousy pilot. Not always, but certainly often enough to make the connection pretty obvious.

At my airline, the self appointed "Hat Police" is a scab, and the "Shoeshine Police" is a street scab. . . . . go figure.

I also notice that the bald guys tend to like the hat . . . . but what really cracks me up is that most guys are kind of ambivalent about the hat, but the ones who want the hat REALLY want the hat . . . . in a really strange and sad sort of way. The same sort of guy who identifies SO strongly with being an airline pilot that he has little in the way of personality or social skills.

The only guys that should wear hats, in my opinion, are skycaps and bus drivers.


.
 
Last edited:
I would submit I always looked forward to wearing the hat as a kid growing up dreaming of becoming a pilot. Today, the hat is an outdated symbol of a once glorious profession.
 

Latest posts

Latest resources

Back
Top