Flight Gloves

[Buddy Spike]

Did a search but couldn't find anything.. What color gloves are authorized to wear and what reg can I find that info in? Is it green only in the states, or can you wear desert, green, or black?

[Sneedro]

I wore desert throughout UPT.

[Guest Rainman A-10]

I didn't wear gloves.

[Toro]

Doesn't matter. I had a green pair until a couple weeks ago, then I asked life support for a new pair and they gave me a black pair. I've seen plenty of guys wear desert.

[NUKE]

I was issued green

[JVBFLY]

AFI 11-301...it is a life support regulation. See paragraph 6.2.4. No specification on color, just Nomex

[MD]

Originally posted by Rainman A-10:

I didn't wear gloves.

Same. Screws with the dexterity.

[Guest Slilock]

I have green nomex ones for the states and tan ones for the desert.

[HercDude]

Never seen it written and would never bother to look it up, but I have been told twice that the desert gloves I wear every day are not authorized with the green flight suit - only green or black . . .

Might just be an AMC thing.

[Clayton Bigsby]

or AETC thing?

I've never heard anything to that effect, just that my dubdued desert-color american flag is "not authorized"

[Guest priorE]

when my green ones wore out they gave me tan ones and it's AETC

[Guest pavesooner]

Also check your MAJCOM sup to 36-2903

for instance AFSOC has more restictive guidance than just what is listed in the life supt instruction 11-301

[Flare]

Somewhat related question.....who does or doesn't fly with your wedding ring on (if applicable)?

[C17Driver]

Somewhat related question.....who does or doesn't fly with your wedding ring on (if applicable)?

Never (not even when deadheading)

[ 13. August 2006, 22:56: Message edited by: C17Driver ]

[Scooter14]

Ring in the plane? Never. With my luck, it would fall off and roll into the throttle quadrant, thus creating an enormous pain in the ass for all involved.

[ 13. August 2006, 23:12: Message edited by: Scooter14 ]

[Hacker]

Originally posted by MD:

Same. Screws with the dexterity.

[Herk Driver]

Originally posted by HercDude:

Never seen it written and would never bother to look it up, but I have been told twice that the desert gloves I wear every day are not authorized with the green flight suit - only green or black . . .

Might just be an AMC thing.

I'd like to know where that particular restriction is written. (Maybe a Chapter 10 thing) Overall, the -130 leadership seems to be able to come up with more petty rules than you can shake a stick at. Next time someone tells you that please ask where it is written and PM me with the info.

[Guest KoolKat]

originally posted by Hacker:

Every excuse that folks have come up with for not wearing them outside of "I don't like it" are bogus.

I can definitly say that I wear mine more than any person I've ever flown with, thus the cheetos...

However, once we get to cruise...yeah, I don't like it, and that's a good enough reason for me & the guy that wrote the reg. Unless, I'm hand flying, which is most of the time, then I wear them.

Of course, last time I said, "Yeah, that makes sense to me," the pilot piped up and said, "Yeah, but hand flying the plane for 3 straght hours makes sense to you too!" They all laughed at me. I don't get it.

When the autopilot is on, which is rare...It's not like I'm doing anything except turning the heading knob...if that, so if I'm hot, I take off the gloves.

If I really wanna give a real reason why I take them off. It's f_cking hot sometimes. And...I haven't even really seen hot yet. Times when I would have them off, if I'm cold, I put them on. Sometimes, when I f_cking sweating my balls off, I have them on, becuase I'm supposed to have them on then.

But, when I'm not told I'm supposed to have them on...and I'm f_cking hot...well...I guess I just don't like it.

BENDY

[Guest Rainman A-10]

Originally posted by Hacker:

I don't have any problems performing any cockpit tasks with them on...more importantly I want the protection they offer if anything bad should happen (fire, ejection, canopy loss, whatever). Every excuse that folks have come up with for not wearing them outside of "I don't like it" are bogus.

We've been down this road before.

Lots of terrible things can happen. I'm not sure how many of them will be mitigated by flight gloves. I couldn't think of any. The A-10 has never had a cockpit fire. Ever. I did my own ORM and started at the first step..."what is the probablility that the risk you are trying to mitigate will actually occur?" and decided in about 3 seconds that it wasn't a big deal.

I took some shit for not wearing gloves. I had an O-6 give me crap for not wearing gloves once. He brought it up right when we got to the part in the debrief when we were going to talk about an unintentional release of six MK-82s from his jet. Since the bombs hit about 800 meters from the JTACs position I figured the "Oh yeah, well I noticed you weren't wearing gloves" defense was not valid or relevant.

The only good reason I ever heard for wearing gloves was "the reg says to wear them." That is a good enough reason on its own.

I broke that reg (whatever reg that is) every time I flew.

I also wore my wedding ring on every sortie, including combat.

I guess I was a "cool guy".

[MD]

Originally posted by Hacker:

If wearing gloves messes with your fine motor skills, then I suggest you see a specialist for that.

Even though some of the "cool kids" think it's dorky to wear gloves in flight, I wear mine from the time I climb the ladder into the cockpit to the time I do the post-flight walkaround.

I don't have any problems performing any cockpit tasks with them on...more importantly I want the protection they offer if anything bad should happen (fire, ejection, canopy loss, whatever). Every excuse that folks have come up with for not wearing them outside of "I don't like it" are bogus.

[ClearedHot]

Originally posted by MD:

Don't know why what I do in my own cockpit bothers you.

Welcome to the Air Force, they are going to be in “your” cockpit from your first flight to your fini-flight, get used to it. It matters because the Air Force has invested a lot in you and if your hands are burned off, you will no longer be of use.

Originally posted by Rainman A-10:

Lots of terrible things can happen. I'm not sure how many of them will be mitigated by flight gloves. I couldn't think of any. The A-10 has never had a cockpit fire. Ever. I did my own ORM and started at the first step..."what is the probablility that the risk you are trying to mitigate will actually occur?" and decided in about 3 seconds that it wasn't a big deal.

I understand Rainman’s rational and I thought that way until I had a fire in the cockpit back in 1999. A group of wires behind a panel over my ugly cranium caught fire and started shooting sparks and molten gunk at my face. We were doing transition work at the time and luckily I had my gloves on because out of pure instinct I put my paw up to protect my eyes, which it did. Certainly a rare occasion, and I was lucky as I normally take my gloves off once I get to attitude. In combat, I tended to wear my gloves all the time, not because of the fire protection, but because it gets cold in an unpressurized gunship above 10,000’.

Bottomline, for the heavy guys there really is not a lot of choice, as wearing gloves is required by regulation during takeoff and landing and hard to hide with a plane full of other crewmembers. I don’t judge your decision during other periods of flight I just know what I do and what works for me.

[ 14. August 2006, 12:24: Message edited by: ClearedHot ]

[MD]

Originally posted by ClearedHot:

Welcome to the Air Force, they are going to be in “your” cockpit from your first flight to your fini-flight, get used to it. It matters because the Air Force has invested a lot in you and if your hands are burned off, you will no longer be of use.

[Hacker]

Originally posted by MD:

After the number of years i've put in, am more than used to it, trust me. However, why someone here would care so much is beyond me; AETC people notwithstanding

If that's directed toward me, the reason I piped up is because there are a lot of young punks who are looking to the more experienced guys to help separate whatever party line they're getting in UPT from the real word in the CAF.

Do I care what you do? Nope. I do care if people are presenting personal techniques that could give kids the wrong impression. In this case...scoffing glove use...is the wrong message to send to a younger pilot who doesn't have the experience necessary to exercise their own judgment.

[MD]

Originally posted by Hacker:

If that's directed toward me, the reason I piped up is because there are a lot of young punks who are looking to the more experienced guys to help separate whatever party line they're getting in UPT from the real word in the CAF.

Do I care what you do? Nope. I do care if people are presenting personal techniques that could give kids the wrong impression. In this case...scoffing glove use...is the wrong message to send to a younger pilot who doesn't have the experience necessary to exercise their own judgment.

[Guest Rainman A-10]

For the record, I wasn't scoffing glove use.

I said the only good reason to wear them is because the reg says so. That's where the argument stops. Compliance is mandatory, 'nuff said.

I also said I took some shit for not wearing gloves. I wasn't trying to "be cool", I just didn't like wearing them. I wore them in RTU. I did a night sortie with a weapons officer in my first fighter squadron and I fumbled a couple switches and took a long time to find some others (since I had the console lights turned way down to reduce glare on the canopy...pre-NVG days). He said he flew with his gloves off at night (along with other techniques). I took my gloves off the next night (I was already using the very thin RAF leather gloves) and was amazed at the difference it made.

I never put gloves on again. I always tried to make as many of my techniques standard as possible. I didn't want "night techniques/tactics". I switched to no gloves and risked getting hammered for the rest of my career and I did catch crap.

More than once I had someone in another aircraft type make gestures in the arming area, especially at Nellis. It was usually a Red Flag TDY O-6 who either had a hard on for gloves or failed to look at the Whoop Ass fin flash. I occasionally got feedback from the Gomers that some O-6 made a comment in the mass debrief about a Hog guy not wearing gloves.

So, for the "young guys"...the reg says wear your gloves. Compliance with that regulation is mandatory. Questions?