Contact lens and medical

wrote in message ...
I wasted several years getting into professional aviation because of
unsubstantiated statements made by people like Dale. I remember
hearing so many times that "Professional pilots have to be 20/20, Major
airlines only hire people with 20/20 natural vision, etc."

All total BS. To get a 3rd class medical, you have to be correctable
to 20/40 (distant vision, each eye). To get a 1st or 2nd class, you
have to be correctable to 20/20 (distant vision, each eye).


I have been working for the same airline for 20 years now and I can
tell you that when I first started with my company they did not hire
pilots with corrected vision.
It wasn't till sometime later that I noticed a few pilots with glasses.
I asked those pilots how they got hired with corrected vision and
all of them said the same thing, they were hired with perfect vision
and with age they needed glasses.
So apparently my company discriminated against pilots with glasses
and choose not to hire them, even though they did have pilots that
eventually would need glasses due to old age.

Yes, I still work for the same company but I sometimes wonder
if my career would have been a different one if I would not have
listened to those that told me that the airlines as a whole do not
hire pilots with corrected vision.

Lately I am considering pursuing a late commercial pilot career
as a second job, just to say I did it.

Let this be a lesson to you younger pilots with career aspirations.
Don't let anyone tell you that you can't just because they couldn't.

David - Proud Private Pilot (age: 44)