Search the archive:
YaBB - Yet another Bulletin Board
 
   
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print
Flying and Eyesight... (Read 226 times)
May 23rd, 2006 at 6:28am

Ashar   Ex Member
Forza Lazio!!

Gender: male
*****
 
This question has been bugging me for a while...

I wear glasses...Does that stop me from ever flying VFR aircraft? I plan on joining Flight School either in the US or the UK in the near future maybe after 5-6 years...I know that's a long time and rules could change...I have a power of -2.5 on my right eye and -2.0 on my left...I wear glasses for distance...

It would be great if I could fly mainly small single engines props or such...

So can I or can I not?

Cheers,
Ashar Wink
 
IP Logged
 
Reply #1 - May 23rd, 2006 at 6:32am

ozzy72   Offline
Global Moderator
Pretty scary huh?
Madsville

Gender: male
Posts: 37122
*****
 
As long as you can pass the medical (including eye-charts and those funny spotty coloured books that I can't remember the name of right now) with your specs on you'll be fine Wink
 

...
There are two types of aeroplane, Spitfires and everything else that wishes it was a Spitfire!
IP Logged
 
Reply #2 - May 23rd, 2006 at 6:42am

expat   Offline
Colonel
Deep behind enemy lines!

Gender: male
Posts: 8499
*****
 
Quote:
Those funny spotty coloured books that I can't remember the name of right now



Ishihara Test.

Matt
 

PETA ... People Eating Tasty Animals.

B1 Boeing 737-800 and Dash8 Q-400
IP Logged
 
Reply #3 - May 23rd, 2006 at 6:45am

Ashar   Ex Member
Forza Lazio!!

Gender: male
*****
 
Quote:
As long as you can pass the medical (including eye-charts and those funny spotty coloured books that I can't remember the name of right now) with your specs on you'll be fine Wink


So it's kinda like that driving exam I took...they checked for color blindness...my cortical (I mean the side thingy...)...and I passed...

Cool! I feel good

However, I suppose this is different for Commercial flyers right? ???
 
IP Logged
 
Reply #4 - May 23rd, 2006 at 6:56am

ozzy72   Offline
Global Moderator
Pretty scary huh?
Madsville

Gender: male
Posts: 37122
*****
 
I think the only true block would be a military flying career. As long as you don't look like Mr. Magoo you should be okay for a CPL... mind you firms tend to take on people with 20/20 vision for pilot training for preference.....
 

...
There are two types of aeroplane, Spitfires and everything else that wishes it was a Spitfire!
IP Logged
 
Reply #5 - May 23rd, 2006 at 7:11am

beaky   Offline
Global Moderator
Uhhhh.... yup!
Newark, NJ USA

Gender: male
Posts: 14187
*****
 
As ozzy says, all other things being equal, a commercial operator will take the pilot with 20/20 vision.
But that doesn't mean much, because all other things are rarely equal. In the end, those making the decision could be swayed by something they see or sense in you that has nothing to do with hours logged, degrees held, or physical factors.
So put that worry aside, and save your energy for studying.
But it can't hurt to eat more carrots... Grin

As for a PPL, in the states, at least, the requirements for the 3rd class medical are not terribly stringent. The eye test is the toughest I've seen (or not seen, as the case may be Grin ), but to give you a general idea: on my last exam, I scored perfect in one eye and about 20/30 in the other, and they didn't tell me I needed to wear a monocle while flying.
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #6 - May 23rd, 2006 at 3:09pm

TSC.   Offline
Colonel
The older I get, the better
I was...
Torquay, Devon, England.

Gender: male
Posts: 5132
*****
 
My eyes are worse that that Ashar, can't remember the exact, but one of them is +/- about 4 & the other is about +/- 2.
My next eye test is due in September

My school have never mentioned it as problem, they even let me leave my dog & white stick in the clubhouse so I can save on fuel, which is nice 8)

Cheers,

TSC.
 

...

'Only two things are infinite.......The Universe and Human stupidity........and I'm not too sure about the Universe' - Einstein
IP Logged
 
Reply #7 - May 23rd, 2006 at 3:15pm

Ecko   Offline
Colonel
-
Denmark

Gender: male
Posts: 4012
*****
 
When you begin your training here in Denmark the military will accept -1/+1, no more, whether training for fast jets or whirlybirds. -1/+1 of course has to be corrected by either glasses or contacts.

However, it depends on a lot of things, like for instance the doctor who inspects you.
My uncle was in the fighter pilot training program many years ago, and right before the last cut was made (he had already made it from 400 to 5), they had a final eye-test, he failed it; due to some "leftside shadow vision" or something. The doctor said he was okay for helos though, so he became a chopper pilot. He flew sikorsky S-61 for many years, mainly with Sqn 722- the danish SAR sqaudron.

Then, as many others, he finished his military career and started flying busses for SAS. But that just wasn't him, so he seeked back into the RDAF. When they then tested his eyes again (standard procedures), the doctor (of course not the same doctor) said he would've never have let him flown choppers in the first place, with that eye dysfunction. Lips Sealed

So my uncle has flown choppers for 17 years without really having the eyes for it! Shocked Grin


I don't know about the rules for commercial pilots, but I don't think they're very strict, as long as your faults are corrected by glasses or contacts of course.
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #8 - May 23rd, 2006 at 7:44pm

Nexus   Offline
Colonel
The greater of two evils...

Gender: male
Posts: 3282
*****
 
rules are different in Europe vs the US.

the FAA allows you to have a very gross error in your vision, as long as you can correct it with glasses.
The JAA, however, is more stringent and for the class 1 medical you need to be better than -3.0, while the PPL medical has  a limit for -5.0
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print