What constitutes a 'four bars' anyway?

[mmm...bacon]

I see a bunch of disdain on here for 'four bars'.  What, exactly, is a four bars?  I sorta get the stereotype: (insert college name here)-instructor-next- job-is-AC-once-I've-got-1000PIC-and-my-MIFR..  But then, for every one of those, there have to be dozens of peeps beavering away to the best of their ability, trying to teach as best as they can because they love going flying, and can't believe that they're getting paid to do it. In my somewhat limited interactions with instructors nowadays, I've not met one who was impolite, or who didn't at least give the impression of listening if I offered some advice.

[ScudRunner-d95]

My last Pilot meeting with the Chiefs

[img]http://ftr.wot-news.com/wp-content/uplo ... erals.jpeg[/img]

[Napoleon So Low]

[quote author=mmm...bacon link=topic=233.msg706#msg706 date=1433949578]I see a bunch of disdain on here for 'four bars'.  What, exactly, is a four bars?  I sorta get the stereotype: [b](insert college name here)-instructor-next- job-is-AC-once-I've-got-1000PIC-and-my-MIFR[/b]..[/quote]

Haven't you just answered your own question? It's just a certain individual's favourite catch-all term to describe the above. He knows it drives them nuts.

[quote]But then, for every one of those, there have to be dozens of peeps beavering away to the best of their ability, trying to teach as best as they can[/quote]

Of course. Everyone knows this, including the guy who likes to say "four bars". He might be a shit disturber extraordinaire, but he ain't dumb.

You too can be a four bars, for only $14.90 plus $1.99 shipping!

[mcrit]

I get the sense that the individuals who use that term also include pilots that use FMSs (FMSi .... Not sure how to pluralize that).

[Class 4 Superstar]

[quote author=mcrit link=topic=233.msg713#msg713 date=1433960645]
I get the sense that the individuals who use that term also include pilots that use FMSs (FMSi .... Not sure how to pluralize that).
[/quote]

What is wrong with using an FMS ?

[Colonel]

Proof by example: (mathematicians everywhere spinning in their graves)

Lee Kang Guk and Marvin Renslow are archetypal four-bars.

Bob Hoover and Rob Holland are not.

Despite wearing four bars, Carlos Dardano
is better grouped with Bob Hoover and
Rob Holland.  He is an example of the
"old breed" which has almost disappeared
and has been replaced by fuzzy-cheeked
children with mousse in their hair and
facebook on their iphones, and no interest
in aviation outside of a paycheck, and certainly
no interest in systems knowledge or stick &
rudder skill.  Despite this, these obnoxious
youngsters consider themselves the Kings
of Aviation (tm).

Their index finger might have just a little
bit of a callus on it from all of their strenous
button-pushing, which is where their
involvement in aviation ends.  I am very
suspicious of pilots that do not have dark
grease and grit under their fingernails,
and dark stains which do not wash out
from their cut-up hands.

A four bars is an imposter in a costume,
that cannot fly an airplane when it is
required that he do so.

From my dinosaur perspective, a "real pilot"
is a guy that could fly a kitchen table and an
electric fan.

My favorite aircraft would be an R-985 with
a pair of handlebars.  A four-bars wouldn't
even know what a Wasp Jr was, because
he has no interest in history or aviation
and thus zero interest in the history of
aviation and hence is doomed to relive
it's lessons.

[Purplehelmut]

I guess the opposite of a "4 bars" would be an "amateur pilot".

[Colonel]

I will concede that you are the expert
when it comes to being an amateur, Rui.

[Purplehelmut]

Well, I was actually thinking of you there, but whatever.

Who's Rui?

[HiFlyChick]

I've been wondering the same thing - is this just a generally disdainful term for anyone who wears a uniform with 4 bars (i.e. mine when I'm on a charter) or does it only refer to flight instructors?

And honestly, while I love looking at all the different aircraft at a fly-in or something, if I have no opportunity to fly a plane, I don't really have any desire to memorize everything about it.  I do like learning in great detail the aircraft that I fly (both piston and turbine, but I tend to like the piston more because they feel like more "purist flying").  In terms of people who look down their nose at others who haven't flown this type or that type, maybe they should stop and consider that they are fortunate to have had (a) the money and (b) the opportunity to fly different and varied types.  General aviation is struggling and it's not always easy to find a place to fly some of the older/more unusual types, assuming that you have managed to even save the money required in the first places