Whirlygig,
I'm with you on that one! I started wearing gloves 'cos I got all nervous etc when I was learning to fly and felt I was wiping my hands on my trousers too much. Gloves eliminated all that and stopped me worrying about it. I don't get so nervous any more but I still like wearing the golves. They're also great in an open or unheated cockpit, power or glider. I don't have a problem writing or operating any knobs or dials.
I was duty pilot on Sunday and gloves were great for fuelling up and shoving the a/c about etc as well as for flying. The same people who took the rise out of me for wearing gloves were complaining about the bitter cold and how hard it was to operate with frozen fingers. Tough! I thought.
One tip someone gave me, though. If you wear the nice white thin leather ones, do an oil change in them before you let anyone see you wearing them!
I've only seen 2 big jet pilots wearing gloves, though, a DC10 f/0 and a 146 Captain, so I guess it's pretty rare. Perhaps they never get nervous.
Cheers,
TheOddOne