Contact lens and medical

I just got my new medical. When I got the certificate I saw that under
limitations it said "None". My previous medical used to say "must wear
corrective lenses". I should have simply walked away with the
certificate, but instead I asked them why that limitation was missing.
The response was "You wear contacts? Well, that changes everything. You
should have told us about the contacts". The FAA form does not ask
anything about wearing lenses (except near vision), and they did not
ask me about it during the exam either. I thought all that mattered was
your corrected vision, not uncorrected vision. In the end we had to do
some extra stuff to get that fixed, and I got another certificate with
the correct statement. She said that I should stop wearing contacts for
24 hours before coming to the medical exam, and bring the lenses with
me. I have never heard of this before. Anyone else had similar
experiences?

In article om,
"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:

I just got my new medical. When I got the certificate I saw that under
limitations it said "None". My previous medical used to say "must wear
corrective lenses". I should have simply walked away with the
certificate, but instead I asked them why that limitation was missing.
The response was "You wear contacts? Well, that changes everything. You
should have told us about the contacts". The FAA form does not ask
anything about wearing lenses (except near vision), and they did not
ask me about it during the exam either. I thought all that mattered was
your corrected vision, not uncorrected vision. In the end we had to do
some extra stuff to get that fixed, and I got another certificate with
the correct statement. She said that I should stop wearing contacts for
24 hours before coming to the medical exam, and bring the lenses with
me. I have never heard of this before. Anyone else had similar
experiences?



I've always had my eyes checked for vision both uncorrected and
corrected (when I wore glasses).

There are restrictions on what you're uncorrected vision can be,
regardless what it is corrected to.

The suggestion to not wear the contacts for 24 hours prior is to allow
the eye to adjust to not having them in. Not sure with newer lenses,
but with hard lenses they reshape the eye somewhat.

Dale wrote:
In article om,
"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:


I've always had my eyes checked for vision both uncorrected and
corrected (when I wore glasses).

There are restrictions on what you're uncorrected vision can be,
regardless what it is corrected to.

The suggestion to not wear the contacts for 24 hours prior is to allow
the eye to adjust to not having them in. Not sure with newer lenses,
but with hard lenses they reshape the eye somewhat.

I've never been asked to take my contacts out during my medical exam.

-Robert

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
oups.com...

Dale wrote:
In article om,
"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:


I've always had my eyes checked for vision both uncorrected and
corrected (when I wore glasses).

There are restrictions on what you're uncorrected vision can be,
regardless what it is corrected to.

The suggestion to not wear the contacts for 24 hours prior is to allow
the eye to adjust to not having them in. Not sure with newer lenses,
but with hard lenses they reshape the eye somewhat.

I've never been asked to take my contacts out during my medical exam.

-Robert


I have taken out my contacts every time, they checked it corrected and
uncorrected. I don't know what the limit on uncorrected vision is but I know
I can't see a damn thing without glasses or contacts.

-----------------------------------
DW

Darkwing wrote:

I have taken out my contacts every time, they checked it corrected and
uncorrected. I don't know what the limit on uncorrected vision is but I know
I can't see a damn thing without glasses or contacts.

-----------------------------------
DW

There is not limit, he was incorrect in his statement - see the FARs
yourself.

Dale wrote:

There are restrictions on what you're uncorrected vision can be,
regardless what it is corrected to.


Dale-

Go read the FARs on this. Next time you post a statement like that, do
us all a favor and make sure you know what you're talking about.

Here's a nice little summary for you to see the exact requirements for
each class of certificate:
http://www.leftseat.com/FAAforms.htm

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).

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)

FLAV8R wrote:

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.

Yes, and airlines also didn't hire women pilots awhile back either. I
just get really annoyed these days when I see people like Dale make
these very outdated claims about vision requirements. The fact is that
the FAA has been basing distant vision requirements on corrected vision
for a LONG time. Was there ever a time when they weren't I wonder?

The airlines have been hiring people with corrected vision for a long
time now too - this didn't just happen last year. I'd guess at least
15 years or longer?


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)

Yes!! One could argue that more research would've been prudent when I
was younger, but the idea of having to have natural "eagle eye" vision
and join the military to be a pilot is (still) so prevalent among the
general population that I didn't even see the point. When I was a
teenager, to me the idea of being a commercial pilot was as far fetched
as becoming an astronaut.

Luckily I figured it out when I was still in my mid-20s. I'm on track
to be a CFI right about the time I turn 30 next spring. I am SO glad I
didn't just give up on the idea when I was younger.

Unfortunately I have talked to other people that did give up on the
idea because they "wore glasses" and are now in situations (age,
family, job, debt, etc.) that won't allow them to pursue their old
dream (at least in their way of thinking).

wrote:
Dale wrote:
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).

To get new hired you generally need 20/20.

Robert M. Gary wrote:
wrote:

Dale wrote:

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).


To get new hired you generally need 20/20.

Not the case at all. You just need to be able to pass a class 1.