Like many of you, Southwest is proud to fly the colors of our great nation, and Flag Day on June 14 is a way for all Americans to reflect on the importance of this symbol of our national values. Each and every day, all 455 of our aircraft take to the sky proudly wearing Old Glory on their fins, but oddly enough, our aircraft didn't always wear the national flag.
No, this isn't a case of a newfound sense of patriotism on our part. Southwest has always been a domestic airline, and unlike airlines that fly internationally (and in spite of the fact that we have always been proud of our country), there was no requirement for us to display the flag on our aircraft. (If you have ever heard the phrase, "flag carrier," this refers to airlines operating foreign routes.) However, after the horrible events of 9/11, many of our Employees asked if we could start carrying the flag on our aircraft, and even though there was no statutory requirement for us to do this, we certainly felt the emotional need to show that we are a Company of Proud Americans. Our Maintenance and Engineering Department investigated how we could add the flag to our aircraft, and they quickly found a way to make this happen.
Many of our Employees and our Customers have asked us why the flag is "backwards on the right side of the aircraft." Whenever a flag is displayed on a stationary flat surface, the flag should be in displayed with the star portion in the upper left. However, on the right side of our airplanes, the star portion is in the upper right, and some have felt that this runs against proper flag etiquette.
Colin Gebhart, who works in our Purchasing Department, provided me with the reason. If the flag was placed on the right side of the aircraft with the stars in the upper left, it would appear as if the flag were flying backward or in retreat because of the direction the aircraft travels. If it were possible to fly a real flag on our aircraft from a flag pole like ships do, an individual looking at the right side of the plane would see the star portion unfurled in the wind with the stars at the upper right. As a result, we follow the recommendations of both the National Flag Foundation and the International Civil Aviation Organization, and the flags on our aircraft "wave" proudly in the same manner as would an actual flag.
Comments
Hi there
an interesting post indeed!
It is indeed correct to show the "union" part of the flag (or the star portion) facing forward.
and it is particularly disappointing for example to see so many WWII movies with incorrect uniforms...
:o)
I am indeed proud that America's best airline honors the American Flag by displaying it on both
sides of its aircraft in the proper manner. And I am very disappointed that America's politicians
have not passed the Flag Amendment to protect Old Glory. Shame on them.
Burton Moe
USAF Veteran
Retired Air Traffic Controller
Father of a SWA Captain
Father-in-law of a SWA Captain
Commander, Alma American Legion Post 224
Alma, Wisconsin
As a current SWA AMT and retired Military our flags are indeed correct, we are never to show the flag in retreat. Look at Usairs
flag on the right side, its backwards, even though its not an offical flag.
If you notice military personnel uniforms the blue union portion is always forward, NEVER backwards. Now if you notice on a lot
of law enforcement personnel uniforms they will have it backwards often, its cheaper to make only one flag pattern I suppose.
It bugs me to no end when I see this error, if its on an airplane or a uniform...but you will never see this error on a SWA airplane
or a Military persons uniform. Glad to see we have our stuff together....perhaps a lot of civilians wouldn't notice this error but you
can believe most Military folks would.
hi ... im 16 years old and i live in ri ... i fly southwest to tampa once a month ... i love your airline .. but on my last trip down here i did not appreciate getting on a old plane and shaking the whole way to tampa... the plane was sqeaky and the ride was rough ... however i wont choose any other airline to fly with ... see you soon ..
alana
I would be nice if people paid at least as much attention to grammar, spelling, and sentence construction as they do to the proper display of flags.
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