International Pilot's Day falls on 26 April, and it is one of those occasions where the obvious gifts have all been given already. Every working pilot owns model aircraft, a decent watch and more branded lanyards than they can use.
What they do not own is a figure of themselves.
The uniform is the detail that matters
Pilots notice uniforms. The number of stripes on the epaulettes, the cut of the jacket, the airline colours, the cap badge, the wings on the chest - get those right and the figure reads as personal rather than generic. Send us a photo in uniform and we match all of it.
Rank matters too. Sculpting a first officer with four stripes is the kind of mistake that gets pointed out for years, so tell us the rank explicitly rather than letting us guess from the photo.
Add the aircraft they actually fly
A figure holding or standing beside a model of their type - the 737, the A320, the Cessna they learned on, the glider they fly at weekends - turns a nice gift into a specific one. Send a reference photo of the aircraft, including the livery if it is a commercial type.
Good occasions for one
Beyond 26 April, the milestones that suit a custom figure are the ones with a date worth putting on the base.
- First solo flight
- Passing the type rating or the ATPL
- Promotion to captain - the fourth stripe
- A retirement or final landing
- A flight-school graduation gift from the family
Inscriptions
The base is where the occasion goes: a name and rank, an aircraft type, a date, a registration, or the airport code that means something. Keep it short - the base is small, and a single line reads far better than three crowded ones.
Ordering
Send photos in uniform plus a reference for the aircraft, and we will produce a free digital mockup before you pay anything. Production runs around four to six weeks once you approve it, so order well ahead of the date on the base.
