Airport "unspoken" Dress Code

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MrPilotMan

Filing Flight Plan
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MrPilotMan
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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NEVER anything wrong with dressing on the sharp side. BUT... Epaulets for a flight instructor?????
 
When I flew out of KBED with East Coast Aero Club I would walk into the terminal in the suit I wore to work, go straight to the restroom, and change into jeans, polo or light sweater (weather dependent) and sneakers.

Just make sure your US$ are nice and crisp. And bring A LOT!
 
Wear what you feel comfortable in. Unless your school/ rental facility has a dress code.

Be ready for every possible opinion. Shorts, pants, slacks, dress for survival....

Personally when I fly for fun it is t-shirt and shorts, unless it has a shoulder harness, then a polo shirt because I hate the straps on my neck.


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Never understood the dressed up thing. I wear a t shirt, jeans/shorts, and a hoodie if it's cold... Definitely wouldn't wear anything nicer than a polo
 
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.
 
I was based at KBED (before selling my plane).

fwiw - wear something comfortable. It doesn't matter if everyone else is in suit and tie (which I think would be ridiculous).

When I had a couple of BFRs at Executive Flyers, the instructor was neat but casual.
 
ktup-flyer said:
Never understood the dressed up thing. I wear a t shirt, jeans/shorts, and a hoodie if it's cold... Definitely wouldn't wear anything nicer than a polo
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I don't think it's any sort of requirement for the student, but I believe the OP is just a bit confused because the intructors are dressing (which could be a school policy).
 
Some of the flight instructors where I trained wore t-shirts and shorts. Mine usually wore a shirt with a collar. I know clothes don't matter but I always felt that my instructor looked more professional.
 
I've often times worn short cutoff jean shorts and a tight white t-shirt to the airport.
 
checkmark said:
Some of the flight instructors where I trained wore t-shirts and shorts. Mine usually wore a shirt with a collar. I know clothes don't matter but I always felt that my instructor looked more professional.
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Acting professional is MORE important the looking important... IMHO
 
Whoever's stroking the check is always appropriately dressed.
 
N801BH said:
Acting professional is MORE important the looking important... IMHO
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I also wore a white T and jeans when I instructed, but I was young.
I do NOW feel part of acting like a professional is dressing as a professional. Still, no epaulets please. There is a reason for that in airlines, but not an instructor.
 
The flight school probably just has a dress code. 95% of the people in this world don't care, they just don't want to hear the complaining from the remaining 5%

Btw attached is the correct answer for any day with a surface temperature over 75F
 

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Flight suites and helmets are the only way to work the crowd.
 
I will say I did see a student preflighting the 172 with the leather flight jacket and ray bans. Pretty sure he was living the dream
 
If I owned a flight school I would enforce school logo'd polos with khaki shorts or slacks. Some of that is branding and some of that is a base level of professionalism.
 
OkieAviator said:
If I owned a flight school I would enforce school logo'd polos with khaki shorts or slacks. Some of that is branding and some of that is a base level of professionalism.
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Like this... Perfect middle of the road. Both professional and non goofy for the job.
 
Question... Does your money get you more flight time if you're a sharp dressed student? Dress how you want... You're the one paying the bill...

That being said I know some of the pilot mills require their students to dress according the a dress code, but that is disclosed up front. If that didn't happen I wouldn't worry about it.
 
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.
 
IFR student ? That calls for a Nomex flight suit. Make certain to have the correct number of 'aviator' pens in the sleeve pocket.
 
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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.
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I never wear anything too nice for this reason as well. I've never wrecked any clothing but I don't always come back home as clean as I left either. Nobody has seemed to have a problem with the way I dress so far.

OkieAviator said:
If I owned a flight school I would enforce school logo'd polos with khaki shorts or slacks. Some of that is branding and some of that is a base level of professionalism.
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Are you going to pay for the branded shirts? You may or may not realize this, but CFIs put in a lot of time for the hours they typically get paid for. Expecting your employees to pay for branded shirts on an already tight income may not go over real well.

But, I know what you're getting at and believe it has some value. As a side note, last I checked I believe ATP even required their students to follow a dress code, with one option being branded shirts.

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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Would you dress in business casual for a seaplane checkride? ;)

I haven't seen applicant attire to make a difference in a checkride outcome but it certainly doesn't hurt to not dress like a slob. :)
 
mondtster said:
Are you going to pay for the branded shirts? You may or may not realize this, but CFIs put in a lot of time for the hours they typically get paid for. Expecting your employees to pay for branded shirts on an already tight income may not go over real well.
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I don't actually have a flight school... But speculatively I would provide the shirts... Pants and/or shorts are on you.
 
The only time I dressed up was for the ATP ride. Your paying the money ,wear what your most comfortable in.
 
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.
 
yetti said:
I will say I did see a student preflighting the 172 with the leather flight jacket and ray bans. Pretty sure he was living the dream
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We had a guy like that too. He looked pretty cool in his expensive leather jacket until he got sprayed with 100LL one windy day as he visited with the line guy filling his plane.


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