Why do pilots have in general a bad appearance?

Question

Why do pilots have in general a bad appearance?

Answer 1

LOL... that is too funny... My father is a pilot..  I am going to assume you mean airline pilots?  They are usually in their late 40s to early 60s.   Stress from flying... they have the lives of their passengers in their hands.  If they s***w up bad....  NSTB will sift through the ashes until they find the black box (which is orange by the way) and figure out what happened.  Military pilots are 25 to late 40s.  they are in good shape and generally have a different mindset than airline pilots.  ( my dad is a retired military pilot who works for the airlines now....  He looks rougher now as an airline pilot)

Answer 2

I have a friend who flys a plane and it is the stress of all the thousands of people they fly. its just like driving a charter coach it is stressful TRUST ME

Answer 3

what do you mean I think im hot

Answer 4

Dunno, I must agree, they always look bad to the bone... da da da da.

Answer 5

what in the heck do mean?

Answer 6

Physically? Well, I hadn't noticed that.

Or perhaps you mean a bad reputation?

Answer 7

I wonder where you live or fly from and to.

Answer 8

Yeah, what they generally wear on layovers is pretty casual, to say the least.

I was just sitting minding my own business on a park bench in New York City. I must have looked like some homeless guy because  some well meaning lady dropped a buck into my just emptied paper coffee cup. I was a 737 captain at the time.

Answer 9

Pilots are heroes and heroes are handsome and cute. I don't think you have seen a real pilot.

Answer 10

This one doesn't. In fact, I'm off my second home, the gym, right now. (My gym is frequented by fitness pros, etc.; Arnold used to work out there in his competition days) I live in L.A. near the beach and it looks to me as if people in general have a bad appearance (e.g., significantly overweight) in many other parts of the U.S. In fact, average passenger weights have been modified to reflect that. Less fuel would be burned if you airline passengers got into shape!

To the extent that other pilots might not be in shape or whatever,    I don't think it's a function of stress, as was suggested by another respondent. I think it's more a function of being "on the road" and not exercising regularly or eating properly. However, truly most people I know personally here in L.A. are in good to excellent shape and exercise consistently and have good nutritional habits. When I'm on the road (which is not too often), I do my best to maintain the healthy course, although it is much more available when I'm home in L.A. On the road, you can be checking in and out of hotels at all different hours, etc. If you are staying in a locale for a few days, you can usually find an acceptable gym, depending on the locale. I worked out in a community recreation center in South Dakota when I flew a bunch of hunters there for a few days. But if you are just there for 12 hours or whatever, not always possible. Having said that, though, I can't really speak for these fictional other pilots. As with the general population, appearance, nutrition, and fitness habits vary. See you in the gym!

Answer 11

Never noticed that.  Hmmm...

Maybe if I flew professionally for another 35 years, someone would point out some pilots with a bad appearance to me.

Answer 12

I'm a pilot, and I think I'm kinda cute!

Answer 13

Bad-@$$ is more like it.

Answer 14

You mean when they are in street clothes and not their uniforms?  Never really thought pilots in uniform had a bad appearance.  Others point out that the job takes its toll on them, reminds me of how US Presidents will REALLY age from the job if you look at them when they took office, compared to 4 years after being in office.