Gloves

[nittany03]

I never wear 'em on preflight . . . I want to touch my jet, maybe it's the "airplane is like a horse" analogy that's been used here. Engines start, gloves go on, and they don't come off until I'm walking to the hangar. Looking badass isn't worth having my appendages wrapped in gauze if the wrong thing should occur. YMMV.

 

[HackerF15E]

I wear 'em from preflight to postflight. Never had a problem in any of the aircraft I've flown with feel of the jet, approach plates, smartpacks, etc. Whenever I've needed finer dexterity, I've taken the glove off, done what I need to do, then put the glove back on.

Fires don't happen often, but when one does I want to be protected...just like my parachute, and my ejection seat, and my helmet, and all of the other gear I wear that occasionally cramps my style while flying, but will be really damn useful if that one-in-a-million incident occurs.

 

[DocT]

I've found that guys preflighting with gloves is directly related to how hot the skin of the a/c is. When ambient temp is over a hundred I couldn't climb on that thing without them.

As for the topic at hand: I can't fly without them. I preflight in those mechanix gloves due sharp as hell safety wire and because the bird is a filthy leaky bitch.

 

[FLY_USMC]

And then curses upon strapping in, as one of his Koch fittings popped out of his vest AGAIN . . .
.

Good eye, I always hate that! As for gloves, I've said my piece before. I'm willing to roll the dice if I have to eject that my fingertips might possibly get a little toasty, but the dexterity you gain without fingertips is worth it.

 

[BusyBee604]

Good Habit...

We had an aircrew eject through the fireball of their disintegrating aircraft back in '81.

We were taught in Primary (1956), that flight gloves would ALWAYS be worn from preflight to shutdown. It was never an issue throughout my era, I'd have felt naked without them.

I ejected in '66 from an aircraft totally on fire, streaming from a severed fuel line just beneath the cockpit. The flames had not broken through to the cockpit (the smoke had), by the time I left. I was fire protected from head to foot had the flames reached the cockpit. Rest my case!
BzB

 

[zipmartin]

Generally, didn't wear them at sea. Had CO's on both sides of the fence on this. They expressed their opinions and left the decision up to the individual. Wore them 99.9% of the time ashore after meeting a former Spad driver who survived a bad fire but was scarred badly and barely had use of his hands. NEVER wore them during pre-flight. Seem to remember something about oxygen and grease/oil not getting along and being a touchy-feely kind of guy on greasy, oily A-4's and A-7's, I didn't want to take a chance on greasy gloves possibly being exposed to oxygen in the cockpit.

 

[HeyJoe]

Look Ma, no gloves!

100807-N-5749W-666 PACIFIC OCEAN (Aug. 7, 2010) Capt. Alton E. Ross Jr. receives a soaking down as he returns to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) from his in-flight change of command ceremony in which he was relieved by Capt. John Eden as commander of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2. Abraham Lincoln is underway for a composite training unit exercise, which is designed to train the ship, embarked air wing and other units that make up the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to function as one effective fighting force. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Lex T. Wenberg/Released)

 

[HeyJoe]

How 'bout them Puma guys?

100714-N-1082Z-024 U.S. 5th FLEET AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (July 14, 2010) An SA-330J Puma helicopter assigned to the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE 5) refuels aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) during a vertical replenishment. Ashland is part of the Nassau Amphibious Ready Group supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts. (U.S. Navy photo, by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jason R. Zalasky/Released)

 

[rookie7734]

As an NFO, I found flight gloves very useful for puking into...

 

[HeyJoe]

Also, NAVAIR has stopped procuring size 14 gloves. Biggest I can get is 12. They are small. My fingers go numb.

Hey now, not to be an apologist per se for NAVAIR, but they only develop and do initial outfitting of such personal protective gear. After that, it's up to the "porkchops" at NAVSUP (DBA NAVICP in Philly) to manage supply chain. If you check on-line and find an outside vendor, there are paths for your squadron to procure via commercial purchase out of 7F funds. MCO might balk, but get CO/XO or if MO is a fan of yours, he can lean on his MCO. Another path is via AMSO who works at Wing level.

 

[Gatordev]

Hey now, not to be an apologist per se for NAVAIR, but they only develop and do initial outfitting of such personal protective gear. After that, it's up to the "porkchops" at NAVSUP (DBA NAVICP in Philly) to manage supply chain. If you check on-line and find an outside vendor, there are paths for your squadron to procure via commercial purchase out of 7F funds. MCO might balk, but get CO/XO or if MO is a fan of yours, he can lean on his MCO. Another path is via AMSO who works at Wing level.

Wait, you mean there's other ways to handle things other than complain about it on the internet? I refuse to believe.

 

[Pags]

Wait, you mean there's other ways to handle things other than complain about it on the internet? I refuse to believe.

Yeah, the whole "I don't wear gloves because they don't make them big enough for me" excuse is kind of thin. If you don't want to wear them, that's your own decision. The Navy, through your Squadron and Wing (Man, Train, and EQUIP, right?) should be making sure that you have all the gear you need to fly IAW the 3710 regardless of whatever freakish dimensions you might have. Having a giant head, feet, or body is no excuse to not wear a helmet, boots, or flight suit. A good friend of mine is ridiculously tall, so tall that they don't make flightsuits big big enough for him. So, the Navy found some magic elves to make him flightsuits that fit. It took a little while and he had to make do with high-waters in the interim, but in the end he got bespoke flightsuits.

 

[HeyJoe]

Wait, you mean there's other ways to handle things other than complain about it on the internet? I refuse to believe.

Yeah, the whole "I don't wear gloves because they don't make them big enough for me" excuse is kind of thin. If you don't want to wear them, that's your own decision. The Navy, through your Squadron and Wing (Man, Train, and EQUIP, right?) should be making sure that you have all the gear you need to fly IAW the 3710 regardless of whatever freakish dimensions you might have. Having a giant head, feet, or body is no excuse to not wear a helmet, boots, or flight suit. A good friend of mine is ridiculously tall, so tall that they don't make flightsuits big big enough for him. So, the Navy found some magic elves to make him flightsuits that fit. It took a little while and he had to make do with high-waters in the interim, but in the end he got bespoke flightsuits.

Believe it...or not! I didn't know much at all about the AMSO "network" until I bumped into a few at the Safety Center and worked later with both PMA-202 and the NAWCAD Human Systems Dept at Pax where the FAILSAFE program is managed and quite a few former AMSOs come and go. In MB's case, the West Coast E-2/C-2 Wing AMSO even advertises on the Internet the services provided such as this one that answers the need mentioned (emphasis mine):

Answer questions and provide research on any and all aviation life support systems (i.e. You need a special fit helmet, flight suit, or torso harness, but your PRs don't know how to obtain it).

So figure your chances of success using:

Dev's method (complain on internet)

Romosexual's method (call IG and don't forget the Navytimes, too)

Your friendly AMSO's method (contact the AMSO at DSN 351-1775)

 

[A4sForever]

As an NFO, I found flight gloves very useful for puking into...

No shit, 'Rookie' ...

As a RAG-STUD, I was once sked-ed as an A-6 blivet in the right seat for an 'ACM' hop ( A-6 = ACM = :icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol ... the left-seat god-instructor (small 'g') was as rough as a cob ... and he was pure shit in the ACM arena, as well ... :icon_wink ... what a surprise, yea-as ???

Throughout the hop ... I held it ... held it ... held it ... and finally ... when taxi'in' back into the line, I gave up. I couldn't 'hold it' anymore ...

I pulled off my left glove and dry-heaved/spit into it as we blocked in ... the god-instructor (small 'g') looked quizzically at me ... but didn't comment.

I tossed the slimed glove into the bottom of my locker ... only to discover it 2-3 months later. It was 'frozen' into a horrible, hideous, gruesome NAVAIR version of a garden-scratcher-tool ... and hard as a rock, too ...

Moral of the story -- gloves are great: when you need 'em ...

 

[PhrogLoop]

If anyone can find a working link to a 2002 Approach article called "Stuck on a Shock Absorber" you'll see a closeup of me flipping off the camera and the reason why I wear gloves preflight to postflight. Basically, I got fishooked right through my middle fingertip by a piece of braided safety wire while preflighting a Phrog. Didn't really hurt until the corpsman yanked it out with a pair of needle nose pliers.