Airport "unspoken" Dress Code

When I was a student and when I just fly for leisure I'll fly in sweatpants and whatever is appropriate for the weather like a sweater, hoodie, t shirt, etc. I like to be comfortable. The dress code for our flight instructors is company polo, black pants, black shoes, black socks.
 
Shepherd said:
There were a couple of Citation drivers flying out of the FBO. They were really, really sharp in their white shirts (with epaulets), ties, Raybans and crush hats.
Some of us were so impressed we went out and got identical outfits so we would look good climbing into the 152s, 172, Tecnams and Skippies. Our outfits had bigger (and bigger, and bigger) epaulets. Eventually the epaulets got so big we couldn't get into the planes anymore.
The Citation drivers stopped talking to us at some point. Don't recollect when exactly.
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Crush hats for citation guys? I never even heard of that one.
 
I normally wear a flight suit for experimental or warbird, jeans and t shirt for spam cans.

Bob
 
EdFred said:
I've often times worn short cutoff jean shorts and a tight white t-shirt to the airport.
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Are you Daisy Duke? :)

Except for CAP, I'll wear whatever I would have were I not flying. No one cares unless you're getting paid or have to wear butter bars.
 
Bah

Jeans and a t shirt.

As a CFI the most I ever did was slacks and a polo.

Work I'm wearing a jumpsuit.


I'd never expect anything of a student other than shirt, shorts and shoes.
 
Here in Hawaii, it's a tank top, board shorts and a snapback hat turned backwards that says "Aloha." Anything else is overkill, and ridiculous IMO if you're paying for it. You should be able to wear whatever you want, as instruction costs a lot of hard earned cash.

Even the instructors wear shorts and tee shirts. Sometimes they change out of their slippers for closed toe shoes, but that is kind of rare too.

I do recommend non-synthetic fibers and closed toe shoes for flying--in my early Air Force days there was a big emphasis on banning nylon and polyester in flying ops and ground ops supporting the Army because it was burning to people's skin during aircraft accidents and IED attacks.
 
Of course, I now have shoes that match my plane's interior and paint. Note that the shoes are Van's too! (yes, goofy as hell, but fun)
 

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Swimming suit, flip flops shirt optional LA250
 
MrPilotMan said:
When I began training I was at a small uncontrolled field in a small town. No one was ever dressed up especially nice and during my training I never felt out of place in jeans or a t-shirt. Now that I'm working on IFR I've switched to a school located at KBED, a reliever airport for KBOS. Where I am on the field it's very nice and seems to promote a business class feel. I've gone for a few lessons and always feel under dressed. Some instructors wear nice shoes, slacks, and button fronts with ties (the classic pilots white with black ties, some even with epaulets)and some just nice polos and dress sweaters. I know I need to dress better at least when I go there, but don't want too look ridiculous. My question is three fold.

Would wearing a sweater like below with slacks and a white button front look pompous for a student at a nice airport like KBED?
http://www.mypilotstore.com/MyPilotStore/sep/6749?gclid=CI3NwvKl5MkCFYIlHwodcFcA7w

Is a suit too formal? If so, is a sports coat, button front, and slacks better if there is multiple colors?

And finally, what would you just recommend?

Please don't rip me a new one guys and gals, I'm asking here to avoid embarrassment because I sincerely don't know. Thanks in advance!
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Can't offer much fashion advice beyond "what you wear will affect your attitude towards your flying." E.g. on my glider check ride a few days ago I wore new khakis, polo and shoes, and it seemed to work. :)
But if I may sneak in a plug for East Coast Aero Club at KBED, that's where I got my R44 transition training a few years ago (and have done subsequent heli rentals there), and they have awesome prices (best in the country, if not the world) as well as good looking well maintained machines.
 
ChrisK said:
Business casual for the checkride was the advice I got from my CFI, and that made sense to me. Everything else was whatever was comfortable, convenient, and did not interfere with operating the aircraft.
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I wore a button down, pants, and shoes for all my check rides. First impressions are always important.
 
jordane93 said:
I wore a button down, pants, and shoes for all my check rides. First impressions are always important.
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If I were an examiner and met a candidate who was wearing expensive clothes, my first impression would be that they're not properly prepared to get on their hands and knees on the ramp if a thorough pre-flight inspection requires them to do so.

I'd also be concerned if the pilot's clothes seemed uncomfortably tight or hot, since those factors could interfere with or distract from aircraft control.

Otherwise, I wouldn't care. It's a checkride, not a fashion show.
 
I think it's customary (maybe required) for 141 schools with professional tracks to be dressed up.
 
I teach in a nice dress shirt and nice pants/comfy shoes. I feel that my clients would feel like I don't care about them so much if I dressed down. Most of the time I wear a tie for the first lesson to make a good impression.

Don't care what my students look like or what I look like when I fly by myself. Comfortable when by myself is the key word.

David
 
acrophile said:
I sometimes get oil or grime on my clothes during the pre-flight inspection (especially during poor weather), so I always try to wear expendable clothing when I go flying. It makes no difference to me what anyone else is wearing.
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Exactly, I'm not wearing nice clothes when I'm going to be crawling around under a low wing checking tire pressures and wheel wells.
 
acrophile said:
If I were an examiner and met a candidate who was wearing expensive clothes, my first impression would be that they're not properly prepared to get on their hands and knees on the ramp if a thorough pre-flight inspection requires them to do so.
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Back in the olden days, dress pants and tie were required garb for engineers - no matter what you did. I spend many an hour under the hood swapping parts or underneath a car changing a catalyst or whatever...
 
I wear jeans, t-shirt, and my cowboy hat. I can wipe my hands on my jeans, and my hat keeps me out of the sun in the summer. If your check cashes, I doubt they give a crap what you are wearing. If they do, that is probably not the school you want to be at.

One of the best instructors I've met is pretty close to you and sometimes teaches in his mechanic's onesy (sp?).
 
acrophile said:
If I were an examiner and met a candidate who was wearing expensive clothes, my first impression would be that they're not properly prepared to get on their hands and knees on the ramp if a thorough pre-flight inspection requires them to do so.

I'd also be concerned if the pilot's clothes seemed uncomfortably tight or hot, since those factors could interfere with or distract from aircraft control.

Otherwise, I wouldn't care. It's a checkride, not a fashion show.
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I was never uncomfortable for the check ride in a button down and pants. I know it's not a fashion show but I always try to look professional.
 
acrophile said:
Otherwise, I wouldn't care. It's a checkride, not a fashion show.
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I think that is why he said 'business casual'. Not fancy by any stretch, but looks professional. Unless you bring a dirty, leaky POS to the ride, you can preflight just fine in a pair of khaki pants and a button down or polo shirt.

It isn't a fashion show unless you are corporate flying for Abercrombie Fitch....and then....god help you.
 
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As a CFI, there's a fine line between looking "professional" and dressing appropriately for the weather. If I'm teaching in the summer in a typical non-air conditioned trainer, no way in hell am I wearing anything beyond shorts and a t-****. I've never taught at a big school, always as an independent at a couple of FBOs/flying clubs, but it was never a problem. Some of the old guys would get grumpy about it from time to time, but a student is going to get more of my focus and attention if I'm comfortable and not sweating my 8@11$ off. I've seen plenty of guys who insist on dressing "professionally" in the middle of the summer, and every single one of them looked absolutely miserable after a 1.5hr flight.
 
bradg33 said:
As a CFI, there's a fine line between looking "professional" and dressing appropriately for the weather. If I'm teaching in the summer in a typical non-air conditioned trainer, no way in hell am I wearing anything beyond shorts and a t-****. I've never taught at a big school, always as an independent at a couple of FBOs/flying clubs, but it was never a problem. Some of the old guys would get grumpy about it from time to time, but a student is going to get more of my focus and attention if I'm comfortable and not sweating my 8@11$ off. I've seen plenty of guys who insist on dressing "professionally" in the middle of the summer, and every single one of them looked absolutely miserable after a 1.5hr flight.
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Shorts are fine, but I would submit that the right polo shirt is no hotter in the summer than a T-shirt.

That said, I don't think t-shirt is necessarily horrible at a small town rural flight school.
 
If you're the one paying, I wouldn't worry about the unwritten rules about dress.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
Whoever's stroking the check is always appropriately dressed.
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I agree with Chip. If you're paying them, then they should be dressing up for you (which is probably what they're doing). Customer is king so I would wear what's practical. I imagine a suite would be quite the high-maintenance outfit so you could probably rule that one out. A sport coat and jeans sounds like a reasonable option, if you do want to dress it up, but on a day-to-day basis, there is no shame in jeans and a polo.

I trained at KAPA, which isn't super fancy but is certainly not hickville. The instructors typically wore slacks and polos and my attire was never something anyone noticed. I was told to dress up for my checkride since they liken it to an interview but I just wore dress pants and a sweater and it was fine.
 
teejayevans said:
I think it's customary (maybe required) for 141 schools with professional tracks to be dressed up.
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Your guess at assumption is incorrect. I attended a 141 program and there was no dress code.
 
PilotRPI said:
One of the best instructors I've met is pretty close to you and sometimes teaches in his mechanic's onesy (sp?).
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If I were the aircraft owner, I wouldn't want the airplane to look like his "onesy" after he got out of it either.
 
I took 4(soon to be 5) civilian checkrides and I wore shorts, Sperrys, and a t-shirt during the summer and jeans and a hooded sweatshirt during the winter. Passed all those checkrides first time. Don't think my dress and appearance is going to matter. You either meet the standards or you don't. I agree first impressions are important, but I make that good first impression by being prepared. Do as much as I can ahead of time, come in knowing my sh*t, and fly to the best of my ability. My examiner was always dressed up but he always came straight from work(aviation attorney and International Airport Director).
 
Jaybird180 said:
Your guess at assumption is incorrect. I attended a 141 program and there was no dress code.
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It is not incorrect. Just because you know of a school that it doesn't apply to doesn't invalidate his statement.

He said customary which is true - most 141 schools do have some kind of a uniform (even if just a company polo shirt) or standard of appearance. I have worked around a lot of 141 on both coasts and have never seen a 141 school with CFIs wearing t-shirts.
 
Or you could just buy your own plane to learn in. You can wear anything you want.

<--- Arizona - shorts and tee shirts all the time.
 
Jaybird180 said:
Your guess at assumption is incorrect. I attended a 141 program and there was no dress code.
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So did I and it use to casual but now is not, was told it was because they have a professional pilot program.
 
Fearless Tower said:
It is not incorrect. Just because you know of a school that it doesn't apply to doesn't invalidate his statement.

He said customary which is true - most 141 schools do have some kind of a uniform (even if just a company polo shirt) or standard of appearance. I have worked around a lot of 141 on both coasts and have never seen a 141 school with CFIs wearing t-shirts.
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Your use of quantifiable terms is interesting, yet you hold yourself out as an expert in such things. And you constantly love to bust my chops...nice to know I've made a "friend".
 
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I tend to ignore most unwritten rules. And I avoid snotty people and places. I took my PPL checkride in cargo shirts and a shirt. For my Insrument checkride, the DPE called Friday morning as I was driving to work, to move the ride from Saturday morning to late Friday morning. So I turned around, called my boss and took the checkride in khakis.

But that would not have happened if he hadn't changed the schedule. I had just enough time to drive to the airport, preflight and fly to where he was. Don't remember if I went home to grab written materials and Test Results, it's been to long now.
 
Jaybird180 said:
Your use of quantifiable terms is interesting, yet you hold yourself out as an expert in such things. And you constantly love to bust my chops...nice to know I've made a "friend".
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Where did I say I was an expert? I simply stepped in because you were doing the typical POA BS of trying to correct someone for the sake of correcting without having a solid position of your own.

I am not your friend.
 
EdFred said:
I've often times worn short cutoff jean shorts and a tight white t-shirt to the airport.
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I wear a helmet, and epaulets when I step onto ANY airport whether I am flying or not. I just let the O2 mask hang to the side.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Where did I say I was an expert? I simply stepped in because you were doing the typical POA BS of trying to correct someone for the sake of correcting without having a solid position of your own.

I am not your friend.
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Not with all that hostility. Take a chill pill. Relax Relate Release. You'll live longer.

And I was pointing out the exception to disprove "the rule". It ain't always so. Mr. Expert.
 
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