Pilots' Shoes

I did spend a lot of time observing at the airport on Sunday, so I'll keeping with the air travel theme for a while longer. Have you ever noticed that pilots by and large wear comfortable shoe-laced rubber or foam-soled shoes? And always black. You wont see too many pilots wearing nice leather Italian loafers or a tan pair of Bostonian wingtips. Or even those black walking shoes that look like shoes, but are really sneakers in sheep's clothing. No it's Rockports or Eccos or some such all the way for these men and women who navigate us across the friendly skies. I guess those pedals are tough on the shoes. Airplanes are controlled by pedals, right, along with all those levers and sticks and knobs and dials?

Comments

[jody]

i don't think there are pedals. But I think there might be a stick shift thingie- at least on smaller aircraft.

[April]

I think about shoes when I fly. I feel really irresponsible every time I fly wearing flip-flops. They get me through security quickly and easily but if the plan were ever to crash, I'd most likely end up barefoot -- I often picture myself trying to navigate a jungle or run from a burning plane barefoot... Thanks "Lost"!

[Victoria]

interesting comment april.

i always wear slip on shoes when flying, either flip flops or uggs. i never thought about crashing and being barefoot though, thanks for giving me something else to worry about. :)

also, a quick shoe-plane story. when i was flying aer lingus, a beautiful irish flight attendant sniffed suspiciously up and down the aisles trying to figure out where an offending odor was coming from. she then pointed to my feet and told me that my feet smelled and that i should put on my shoes.

(i was wearing flip flops, so it didn't make a difference). but the thing is MY feet didn't smell, it was this rather large man near me who slunk down in his seat in an attempt to put his shoes on discreetly. but everyone except the flight attendant knew it was him and not him!

but it was still so embarassing!

[donal]

I don't like wearing flip-flops on planes for two reasons. First, I always choose an isle seat and I'm always afraid that my toes will be run over by the snack cart. Second, like you April I worry that if the plane ever went down and I died and they were showing footage of the crash site on tv I'd be embarassed if my foot fell out of my body-bag and all the world saw my badly trimmed toe nails.

[Simmons]

Yes there a pedals. They are called the Rudder Petals, they control the Yaw of the Aircraft. the pedals are also the wheel breaks when you push down the toe of the pedal. I am a pilot, and most Commercial Pilots must ad hear to a dress code.