Why do I never see army pilots wearing their aviation badge?

My Father and his three brothers enlisted and served in WW2 (as did most from their generation). After high school, I enlisted in the mid-'70s when being a soldier wasn't the most popular thing to do. Out of 750 from my high school graduation class, only 4 enlisted in the military (one was my twin brother). I served with men who were drafted and those who volunteered. I've been a retired CW4 aviator since 2008, +30 active and national guard. As a former enlisted soldier and crew chief, I looked up to the CWO's I knew and flew with. Most were Vietnam veterans. They will always be heroes and mentors to me. As I see it, earning and wearing Army Aviator wings, in a small way, included me in this exceptional group of soldiers. This brotherhood I have joined will always be something I feel pride in belonging to. We all know our primary job is to support the 11B's. Most of the combat arms soldiers I flew wore Parachute badges and other forms of awards, it was/is a small way to distinguish yourself from other soldiers. One of my nephews is currently serving as an Army 04 and earned his Jump Master wings. He proudly wears them on his uniforms. To those who say it costs too much to have patches sewn on, I remember you from the O' club...you never bought a round. lol.

And let me clarify that a bit more. While in regular ACUs/OCPs they typically have the badge on, either sewn or pinned. In A2CUs we don't see stuff on since the uniform gets turned back into CIF, so you won't see them wearing their wings all that often if at all

Why would they? It's like the Army Service Ribbon, it's implied and doesn't need a ribbon/badge..

Even back in the late 1970's we wore two piece Vietnam era Nomex flight suits and we were required to sew all of our patches and badges on them because of FOD, we were also required to wear a nylon watch band or take off our watch and jewelry when doing a PMCS and flying. I remember another crewchief in 1978 who's ring finger (wedding ring) was stripped to the bone by a tailrotor gear box during a PMCS. In the early 1980's when I switched from rotor wing (OH-58) to fixed wing (OV-1D) was when I was issued my first one piece flight suit and we only wore a Velcro leather name tag and sewed on our unit patch. By the mid 1980's all rotor wing crews were in the one piece flight suit, but by the mid 1990's rotor wing was back to the two piece flight suits but with the Velcro name plates and Velcro patches. I retired in 2008 so I have no idea what they wear now. But I will venture to say everything is Velcro or sewed on because of FOD. Easier to use Velcro if the flight suits are DX'ed every 6 months.

Because of things like this picture http://s271.photobucket.com/user/eranshaw/media/2_zpse9854a05.jpg.html

Must be an Army thing. Everyone I knew in the Air Force wore their wings and yes they were sewn on. We learned how to take them off in the comfort of our cushy quarters when we had to turn a flight suit in. :-)

They ware their badge all around them, in their aircraft.

I am sure things have changed since I retired in 1995. But the regs stated that you must wear qualification badges, awards and decorations. When I was s private, a CSM told me he should be able to look at my uniform and know 90% of my experience. It was not “wearing your resume”. It was required. The army publications stated that wearing badges, awards and decorations was intended to encourage other soldiers to excel.
However, even in the old days, aviators were known for sloppiness with their uniform. Sorry if that offends anyone, but it is a fact that having the coolest job around can lead to a little narcissistic attitude.
But having said that, back then aviators wore a leather Velcro patch on their flightsuits that had their wings, name and rank on it. I see tons of Velcro on the current uniforms. So, is anything sewn on anymore?

As SSG Wallace said, it's a FOD ( foreign object debris) something as small as that can get caught between all the control arms and cause the pilots to not move the collective or cyclic sticks. But if there sewn on, it's fine. Most pilots don't bother with sewning them on

Army Aviators should wear the Aviator Badge on the Nomex ACU at all times, be proud that you are an aviator.