Carrying glasses?

Back in the early '60s, if you needed glasses, you had to have a spare pair
with you. That got dropped about the same time that wearing contacts
required a waiver (mid 60s). THen it all got dropped.

Jim

Emily wrote:
Someone told me a while ago that if you have a "must wear corrective
lenses" restriction on your medical and wear contacts, that you have to
carry a pair of regular glasses while flying. Is that true? And if so,
does anyone have a reference?

"Emily" wrote in message
news

Problem with full size glasses and a prescription like mine is the lens is
very distorted towards the edges (I have myopia). It's simply too
difficult to see through that distortion, so I wear small glasses. It's
either see through the distortion or have zero peripheral vision, both of
which are bad for flying.

Style aside, I am a little surprised at your preference for small cut
glasses. IIRC you are an AME and I would have thought you would prefer
large glasses due to their increased coverage and greater effectiveness as
safety glasses to protect your eyes from small flying objects in the
workshop. I find the large glasses much more effective while grinding and
especially for falling grit and stuff when working over my head. I do not
need nearly as much correction as you and have no trouble with peripheral
vision with my standard full size aviator frames & lenses.

Private wrote:
"Emily" wrote in message
news
Problem with full size glasses and a prescription like mine is the lens is
very distorted towards the edges (I have myopia). It's simply too
difficult to see through that distortion, so I wear small glasses. It's
either see through the distortion or have zero peripheral vision, both of
which are bad for flying.

Style aside, I am a little surprised at your preference for small cut
glasses. IIRC you are an AME and I would have thought you would prefer
large glasses due to their increased coverage and greater effectiveness as
safety glasses to protect your eyes from small flying objects in the
workshop. I find the large glasses much more effective while grinding and
especially for falling grit and stuff when working over my head. I do not
need nearly as much correction as you and have no trouble with peripheral
vision with my standard full size aviator frames & lenses.


AME? No, I'm not a doctor.

As far as workshop safety, I very rarely enter a shop, and when I do,
it's contacts lenses and safety glasses.

And just try peripheral vision with my correction.

I had a student that used monovision contacts for distance/near vision.
I'm not sure how but she managed to get an unrestricted medical that
allowed her to use them in flight. I guess I could have challenged it
but it didnt' seem to give her any problems and I figured if the ME
authorized it, it probably wasn't my place to second guess it. As CFIs
we tend to advocate for the students vs. the ME.

-Robert


Ron Natalie wrote:

If HOWEVER, you need close distance correction, you will also have an
endorsement that says "must possess corrective lenses..." You can't
use monovision contacts either.

On rare occasions I've had a contact pop out. Because of that I do
carry glasses in my flight bag. Since I wear disposible contacts it
would be no big deal for me to pop them out and let the drop on the
floor to their death since I have a case of them at home.

-Robert


Emily wrote:
Someone told me a while ago that if you have a "must wear corrective
lenses" restriction on your medical and wear contacts, that you have to
carry a pair of regular glasses while flying. Is that true? And if so,
does anyone have a reference?

Robert M. Gary wrote:

On rare occasions I've had a contact pop out. Because of that I do
carry glasses in my flight bag. Since I wear disposible contacts it
would be no big deal for me to pop them out and let the drop on the
floor to their death since I have a case of them at home.

something you may want to practice with an instructor or another
pilot on board, but have you tried to fly with the glasses off? I
mean, just in case; I was somewhat surprised to find out that I
can land the thing if I have to (if I happen to loose both glasses)

--Sylvain

Sylvain wrote:
Robert M. Gary wrote:

On rare occasions I've had a contact pop out. Because of that I do
carry glasses in my flight bag. Since I wear disposible contacts it
would be no big deal for me to pop them out and let the drop on the
floor to their death since I have a case of them at home.

something you may want to practice with an instructor or another
pilot on board, but have you tried to fly with the glasses off? I
mean, just in case; I was somewhat surprised to find out that I
can land the thing if I have to (if I happen to loose both glasses)

Me personally, I'm -7.5 in both eyes, I can't even read the instruments,
must less see anything outside. Runway markings? Forget it.

Of course, I've never lost a contact, ever, so I'm pretty blase about it.

On Mon, 04 Sep 2006 19:01:51 -0500, Emily
wrote:

Andrew Sarangan wrote:
It is not true, but I carry one anyway. Contact lenses can dry out or a
foreign object can get stuck. If something like that happens, I will
take the lenses out, throw it away and wear the regular glasses. It
would be very difficult to attempt to wet the lens and put it back into
the eye while flying.

I learned that it's even harder for me to land while wearing glasses.
Tried one night, and my depth perception was so bad I had to have my
friend land. I got to maybe fifty feet and simply couldn't judge height
anymore and was honestly didn't think I could land.

Guess I don't know what I'd do if I lost a contact.

As for judging height I know exactly what you mean.
I'd started my PPL before getting the medical and had been flying
about a week and just started to get the landings right (ish..!).
Went for the medical found out after 48 years I had astigmatism and
required glasses. That absolutely ruined my landings. I first tried to
flare about 50ft and pages that have straight sides were not parallel.
When walking I felt as though I'd lost about 6 inches in height, all
very strange. What a shambles for a few days. After that I got used to
them.

Now I can put the glasses on or off and don't notice any distortion,
unless I'm specifically looking and then it's minimal. I don't notice
much change in vertical perspective either so I think if you persist
the brain will accommodate the changes given a little time.

My FAA certificate says:
"Must wear corrective lenses"

My UK CAA licence says:
"Must wear corrective lenses and carry a spare set of spectacles"

The only comment I would make is if you wear varifocals ensure your
glasses are set so you can read the map, instrument panel and distance
without tilting your head too much.

On Mon, 04 Sep 2006 19:12:25 -0400, Bob Noel
wrote:

fwiw - my original medical certificate (1987) had words to the effect
of wearing corrective lenses and possess glasses to correct for near
vision or some such.

Yes, that's what mine says (again, more or less). The idea is that you
must wear the corrective lenses for distance vision, but you can
satisfy the near-vision requirement by carrying your reading glasses.

On 4 Sep 2006 16:57:42 -0700, "Andrew Sarangan"
wrote:

It is not true, but I carry one anyway

Very wise. I carry my old glasses in my fishing vest (looks silly, I
know, but it's a great way to get all the miscellaneous stuff on my
person). The prescription is far from current, but good enough to get
the plane on the ground.

If you'd have trouble landing the plane without corrective lenses,
then a backup is surely in order.