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eludlow
29th Nov 2000, 23:40
Recently, at the advice of my careers teacher, I had the CAA eye test to see if my eyes were suitable to be a pilot as I have to wear glasses http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif
Unfortunately, at present, they are to bad :-(((((
The optician told me a lot of stuff though.....
One of things he said was, I would be able to stop my eyes getting worse by wearing hard contact lenses, but these may hurt a bit. Does anyone here wear these? Also, he said that at CAA were likely to become more leniant within the next 5 years or so. Can anyone confirm this??
Thanks,
Edward Ludlow

crazypilot
30th Nov 2000, 01:31
exactly how bad are your eyes??
It is true that the JAA is meant to be reducing the vision requirements, but how much,no-one yet knows for definite.

El Cid
30th Nov 2000, 02:18
Hello Edward,when you say that you had the CAA eye test what exactly do you mean?Did you go to Gatwick for it or did your own optician replicate the test as most opticians have a file detailing various visual requirements for different careers.If your optician did the test himself he and you may not yet be aware that the limits HAVE already been relaxed and now lie at -5D rather than the old -3D.This,however,may have certain age restrictions attatched to it and you would do well to contact the CAA medical folk at Gatwick who are most helpful.
Good Luck
El Cid

wishtobeapilot
1st Dec 2000, 10:04
Hello everyone,

I wish to become a pilot for Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong and I face the same problem as eludlow. My vision is at -6D and since HK follows JAA standards, tough luck. Anyone know if laser surgery will be accepted by FAA or JAA soon? I certainly hope so.
As for hard contact lens, I have been wearing gas permeables for the last 10 years & they're very comfortable. The first time you try them, you'll not be use to it ... esp. if you've been wearing soft lens. But after a while, you won't even know they're there.

eludlow
1st Dec 2000, 11:47
Sorry, they won't except laser surgery. http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif

1-stripper
1st Dec 2000, 19:54
wishtobeapilot:

CX doesn't follow CAA nor JAA. They follow the HKCAD which in turn follows the ICAO. Sorry to disappoint you, I think you are way beyond acceptable eyesight requirement for CX ab initio program.

inverted flatspin
1st Dec 2000, 23:14
wishtobepilot. FAA allows all kinds of eye surgery, to pass all you need is to meet the standards. The FAA also has no Diopter limits, correctable to 20/20 is all you need for commercial operations and correctable to 20/40 for private pilots.

As a point of interest, Currently a debate is brewing among interested parties here to allow private pilots to self certify. That is to fill out a form saying that they are healthy and that is it, no medical exam. Apparently no accidents have been prevented by the current medical standards so why have them?