Can pilots have beards?

In most large commercial airlines, pilots are allowed to have facial hair, as are the flight attendants. However, this facial hair does need to be kept tidy (neatly trimmed) or stylish (longer beard styles) and shouldn't make the aviation pilot look less professional.



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There are exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, if you want to be an airline pilot, you'll need to be clean-shaven. So why the restriction? Well, it all has to do with safety. Beards can interfere with the proper seal of a pilot's oxygen mask.

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Some countries and airlines require pilots to submit to breath tests as part of reporting for work, while other countries use hair samples for drug testing in addition to urine.

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TSA does not allow pilots to carry knives aboard aircraft on their persons or in their carry-on luggage. Pilots who fly their own aircraft are not under the jurisdiction of the TSA so they may carry knives on their persons or in their flight kit.

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While cigarette smoking is not prohibited by the FAA, it has several hazardous side effects and many health conditions caused by smoking are medically disqualifying. A smoker typically carries a carbon monoxide blood level of about five percent.

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Pilots can and sometimes do smoke in the cockpits of business jets. These can be as large as airliners (see BBJ), but usually aren't. Even when a country and/or airline ban smoking in the flight deck, some pilots will ignore the ban and still light up. This was quite common with Asian carriers in the past.

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