Do you wear leather flying gloves?

I do as my hands sweat a lot, but was worried about being considered some sort of poseur when I started. On talking to the CFI at Old Buck about it, he said that it didn’t bother him at all, as long as I was comfortable. He went on to mention someone he had trained in the past who, having been a racing driver at some point in his life, didn’t like to fly unless he was wearing racing driver’s gloves.

Ive never worried about what others think. We abide by military rules, I am amazed by how many GA pilots do not ‘dress to survive’.

The RAF rule for immersion suits was 12 degC IIRC, whereas 15 for FAA. I did a pool drill in normal flying kit at 15 and 12 degC and now whenever over water I wear an immersion suit. 15deg was horrible! The services have excellent survival videos which help no end to focus the mind on what matters. Regarding gloves, well if you never wear any other part of AEA, wear gloves! The fingers are so important in any survival situation and require protecting.

I would suggest strongly that any flight over water (where you cannot glide or auto to land) requires proper AEA; immersion suit with adequate thermals, gloves and LSJ, a dinghy would also be useful. I forget the exact figures, but in water below 10degC fingers become numb and useless in about a minute….cape leather extends the useful time. Fingers are so important for operating beacons, zippers, hauling onto wreckage/dinghy etc…..anyway I am probably preaching to the converted anyway.

As aircraft have associated unpleasant liquids, gloves also protect against that..

I do as my hands sweat a lot, but was worried about being considered some sort of poseur when I started. On talking to the CFI at Old Buck about it, he said that it didn’t bother him at all, as long as I was comfortable. He went on to mention someone he had trained in the past who, having been a racing driver at some point in his life, didn’t like to fly unless he was wearing racing driver’s gloves.

Nomex flight suit for summer. Nomex flight suit with natural fibre layers under it for winter (Cotton vests, woollen sweaters, denim jeans).

Probably will never be needed, but then I rarely travel over water without wearing a lifejacket which will almost certainly not be needed either

An interesting thread which should probably be more widely read by the civil flying fraternity. My experience of the glove wearing community was limited to my flying school boss wearing beige kid gloves which we put down to his ‘yuppiness’.;)

I wore gloves when flying in the military and still do so today.
As a previous poster said, the ability to operate the aircraft during a fire/heat emergency could be critical. Also you may need to extract passengers quickly.

I have a Nomex flying suit all year round, however it also serves the purpose of having loads of places to store all my bits and pieces for the photo work(and sick bags,toffees,spare specs etc)

I’m with Blue Max on this one and I use a pair of the NATO issue Nomex gloves with soft leather palms. I got them from a Dutchman at a Duxford show at a very good price but I haven’t seen him since! However I spoil the effect in Summer by wearing a flying jacket that has a nylon outer shell which would melt in a fire. Any suggestions on what would be better? I use a leather jacket in Winter which has better fire resisitance but is too warm for Summer wear.

+ 1

Yes, I wear gloves. And flying boots rather than trainers!

Always.

Moggy

Interesting responses, so far thanks. Reminds me of my sailing days and watching all the fisher men who refused to wear life jackets.

It is all down to your own choice, however just ponder the reason that the military and racing drivers wear protection from fire.

Of course logical choices do not apply to humans, I have an excellent very safety aware pilot who hates to be out of radio range. And yet he goes mountain walking in remote parts of Scotland on his own without leaving route details with anyone !!

I’ve only flown with 1 guy who wore gloves. I dont, nor do anyone else i’ve flown with.

Always fly with my green nomex jobs, even if not flying open cockpit! Apart from anything else i find i have a better feel on the controls with gloves and the benifits inthe event of a fire are obvious.

Blooming right I do. I know I fly with open cockpit, but even in summer will wear gloves.

My aeroplane may only have a humble 62hp, but I figure if it all goes pear-shaped, it will burn just as hot as more exotic stuff.

Imagine an in-flight fire somewhere on the airframe. A metal control column is going to get blooming hot, just when you really need to be in control!!