Hang on a minute!
Why don't I take the opportunity to answer a very popular question: Can a pilot wear a beard?
Dear friends and followers,
Welcome back to my channel and to a question which concerns probably all my viewers who are doing this hand gesture right now:
Can an airline pilot wear a beard? We'll be talking about passenger opinions on pilots with beards
and what problems you might be facing wearing a beard and how to best maintain it. So, let's get started! (INTRO)
This video is brought to you by Philips and the new S9000 Prestige: my choice of a shaver
due to it's skin friendly surface coating and the ability to shave my baby face without any resistance.
Nowadays beards have become incredibly popular. Full facial beards, which back in the day used to be associated with
Lumberjacks and harley-davidson bikers as well as
stylish mustaches are in today's world a new way to express your manhood and personal style.
Countless different types and styles were reintroduced and a whole new industry
has evolved around the facial hair a man can wear. But the question arises: Are
Pilots banned from this fashionable accessory? Let's first approach this topic from a passenger point of view:
Now, what would your first impression be if you were boarding a plane and your pilot look like this?
Please comment below what your reaction would be!
You'll be surprised how many passengers board planes although being
terrified of flying and a roughed-up beard will neither calm their nerves nor increase their confidence!
It just looks untidy and most people, not to judge my passengers,
associate such a look as sloppy,
unhealthy, untrustworthy, but most importantly
unprofessional. Passengers will think: "If this pilot can't even find his razor in the morning or doesn't really care about his appearance,
how much does he care about the plane he's about to fly?" Please, Don't get me wrong,
I'm not saying pilots who have a full beard and look a little funny can't fly. I'm
saying that's the first impression of many passengers. A passenger expects a certain level of
professionalism when he or she boards your plane. Compare it to your cab driver: If he looks a total mess
Wouldn't you be monitoring every move he makes whilst driving you to work?
Yes, you would, because your driver doesn't give you the impression
he cares much about his environment and, even worse, about himself.
Some people often take just a glance at the driver and wait for the next one to pull around
because it's all a matter of the initial impression of
appearance. So, as a passenger, you want to have that
confidence when you bought a plane that the pilots in the cockpit know what they're doing and
can be trusted with your life to bring you safely from A to B.
This is one of the reasons why pilots wear neat and tidy uniforms
It just looks professional: someone you would trust your life with. You never hear stories about the glamorous pilots
strolling through the airport terminal but you've all heard about the
scruffy Twin Otter islandhoppper pilot who wears Bermuda shorts, flip-flops and a full beard to work.
People will only tell that story because they thought their life was at risk due to the hobo-look.
If you ask me, those guys are probably among the best pilots out there!
But back to the beard! Now, I mentioned in the intro that you might be facing some problems
wearing a beard but not from a passenger standpoint. A few years back Air Canada and a few other airlines made
headlines revising their flight operations manual not allowing pilots to have any facial hair
whilst being on duty. That led to an outrage of the pilots
but these airlines were convinced that the facial hair could cause problems during a rapid depressurization.
For example, when pilots are forced to place the quick donning masks over their face within seconds. The beard
could interfere with the seal of the mask with your face causing unwanted leaks leading to a possible
Incapacitation of the pilot and that is the last thing you want!
Luckily
the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver was curious about the Air Canada beard ban and
did some studies on that matter. So the delivery of oxygen was tested by putting three groups of bearded men:
stubble,
medium-length and bushy, into a pressure chamber and
simulating depressurization at altitude. The oxygen saturation
remained consistently healthy for all the test subjects.
So no leaking oxygen
along the seal touching the beard. If you think about it, fighter pilots wearing bushy beards fly around with the oxygen mask on
90% of the time and they never seem to have a problem with it and they have been around much longer than that
Air Canada beard ban. My guess is that
Air Canada officials were trying to force their pilots to look nice and tidy and use the
oxygen mask as an excuse to ban the scruff. So Air Canada revised the flight operations manual once more in
2018 and pilots are again allowed to wear a beard but NOT longer than 12.5 millimeters.
Don't ask me how they measure that but if you had a razor with a trim function, just like my Philips S9000 Prestige,
that shouldn't be a problem.
And by the way, it also helps if your shaver manages the bigger beard obstacles,
may be ten-day or seven-day or whatever-day length,
this shaver has a function called "beard adapt" which cuts through most beards by adapting the shave
performance by measuring the thickness of the beard. It's crazy times
we live in if your shaver is more advanced than your phone!
But there are still a few airlines out there which have strict policies regarding facial hair.
I would say that most airlines would allow to wear a mustache or a beard
providing that you keep it maintained and groomed. So just to give you a visual example, this is my buddy Pilot André
Let's be honest. He's a great pilot,
but his beard just looks a mess! Just a little bit of grooming with the Philips S9000 Prestige,
no matter how scruffy or difficult the beard is and he could easily regain the trust of his passengers.
And last but not least: Pilot Neemah.
Well-groomed, his bid looks neat and tidy. Yep. This guy is ready for takeoff!
So fellow colleagues and aspiring pilots,
Please do yourself and your passengers a favor: For the time you are onboard of your plane: be a great pilot,
I have no doubt about that, but also have a good work ethic and be
representative! There are still many passengers who look up to you and they have a certain
old-school expectancy of how a pilot is supposed to look like. So my suggestion get yourself a decent shaver and start a
regular shaving routine. I shave on a daily basis when I'm out flying, my face is just not made for a beard!
Everybody has their favorite brand and for me, it's been Philips for a while now. Now their new
Series9000 Prestige appears to be the benchmark
among electric shavers. Besides the extremely smooth field due to
Nanoparticles that enhance the precision blades, the new model comes with wireless charging technology
which I can also use for my phone.
Also, a very clever feature by Philips is the
travel lock. Hold the power button for three seconds and it locks the shaver from
accidentally being turned on whilst traveling, we've all been there when suddenly you hear your razor go off in your suitcase. That's very embarrassing!
The shavers battery life survived my recent 14 day trip
and as I said,
I shave every day. So all in all it's a fantastic shaver, one of the products I have added to my list:
quality over quantity
So take advantage and use my 15% discount code
"ShavewithJoe" to get a great deal on a
Philips S9000 Prestige! You can find the link in the description box below. That's it for today. Thank you very much for your time.
Hit that subscribe button and activate a notification bell
so you won't miss out upcoming videos and don't forget: A good pilot is always learning. Well in today's video, he's always shaving!
So see you next week, wishing you all the best, your Captain Joe!