Why do airline pilots' uniforms have stripes on the arms and shoulders?

Even if you've never been to an airport, you've certainly seen the airline pilot uniform, whether in movies or on television. In addition to all the pomp related to the profession, the uniform of the crew of an aircraft indicates a lot more than charm and elegance: They also indicate the degree of experience and role of each one in the flight.

Usually, the airline pilot uniform has some stripes in the shoulder and arm area, as well as the uniform of some flight attendants.

Many people are curious, do not know the meaning of these stripes and may even think that it is a culturally added adornment on the uniform. However, the reality is different.

Berimbelas in the uniform of an airplane pilot

The official name of the bands contained in the clothes of airplane pilots and crew members is berimbelas, and each one indicates the hierarchical level of each person inside the aircraft.

The yellow berimbelas can have 1 to 4 bands and each of them is related to the function and hierarchical level. Therefore, to discover the experience of each person on the flight, just look at their uniforms.

In Brazil, berimbelas are classified as follows:

• 1 yellow band – Flight attendant
• 2 yellow bands – Co-pilot
• 3 yellow bands – Co-pilot or commander of aircraft considered small
• 4 yellow bands – Commander

History of aviation and crew uniforms

If there are controversies as to who is responsible for creating the plane, with a dispute between the Wright Brothers and Santos Dumont, there is no doubt about the first commercial flight, it took place on January 1st 1914.

However, the beginning of aviation was marked by the intensive use of new creations, mainly in wars. For this reason, initially, the uniform of pilots was not very different from military uniforms.

However, in 1931 this reality was changed with an initiative by Pan Am, an American air transport company that gave beginning of the use of more sophisticated uniforms for airplane pilots, after all, only wealthy people could travel by plane.

In this sense, Pan Am was inspired by Navy uniforms to translate the elegance and charm of traveling in an aircraft. For this reason, captains, co-pilots and flight attendants began to wear the banners on their clothes.