PPL Prescription sunglasses.

[Deano1973]

Hi all, first post by a newbie which contains what I hope isn't an oft-repeated question on this forum.

About to start my PPL with Air First at Blackbushe. Been reading about the Class 2 medical and as I wear glasses I found reference to a need to buy prescription sunglasses for flying. I can see why this would be useful on those rare days when the sun's out and you're flying toward it early or late in the day, but I can't find confirmation about it.

Is it standard procedure or an absolute requirement to have them?

Thanks for any help / confirmation!

[BackPacker]

I guess it's more the other way around. IF you require/prefer/want sunglasses, they need to be of the "prescription" type. But if you don't want to wear sunglasses you will obviously wear your own, normal, non-tinted glasses. Plenty of pilots fly around with just their normal glasses and don't use sunglasses.

So if you don't normally use sunglasses and you don't intend to use sunglasses in aviation, don't worry.

Having said that, when you are flying you tend to be well above ground level (duh!). This means that the dark objects, like houses, trees and whatnot, that are normally at eye level and reduce the average amount of light that hits your eyes, are not there. So the average amount of light that enters your eyes is higher, and you might need sunglasses earlier.

Furthermore, certain types of sunglasses enhance contrast, which is useful on an overcast day. And there are pilots who make a point of wearing sunglasses as protection against the effects of a birdstrike on the canopy.

On the con side, any type of glasses will restrict your peripheral vision a bit, and obviously dirt on the glasses even more so. That may mean you detect a potential conflict with another aircraft later, or not at all. But this holds true for regular and sunglasses.

Edited to add that your medical will specify something along the lines of "must wear glasses and carry a spare set of glasses". So you'll need spares somehow in any case.

[p1andy]

I found a place online to buy prescription rayban aviators. They worked out cheaper than buying a set of normal raybans. Unfortunately i cant remember the name of the site but im sure Mr Google could assist should you check with him.

I wear my sunglasses regular as it does get pretty bright in the cockpit. The ones i have are made with really skinny arms which are perfect for peripheral vision and also still allow your headset to seal perfectly round your ears.

[peterc005]

I'd avoid the prescription Aviators, as you might find the lenses are too thick and heavy to be practical.

I had LASIK surgery a few years ago with perfect results and haven't needed glasses since. You should check this out.

[Pace]

A word of warning :{ 5 years back I went trundling off for my medical to be told I needed reading glasses.

About a Boots number 1 :rolleyes:

I was banished to get a set of prescription glasses and drove the 50 miles back to my home town minus a medical.

Rushed to buy some subscription glasses and as I hated wearing glasses asked if they could be tinted to look like sunglasses! Spent a small fortune on my two sets of sunglass like prescription glasses and drove the 50 miles back to get my medical which I needed urgently.

The Ame insisted we ran the whole eye test again as the regs required the test be done wearing the subscription glaases.
All was fine till the color test! Out came the book and I could not read a thing!
I was puzzled as color vision does not change but I was now color blind with threats of sending me off to Gatwick.

Then the penny dropped! Put on yellow glasses and look at blue and a guy with the best color vision on earth will see GREEN!!!
Ok these were brown.
I mumbled my explanation to little avail even pointing out that Raybans should be banned as they rendered pilots color blind.
I went off again 50 miles to my home town to buy another set of CLEAR glasses at vast expense to drive the 50 miles back and was issued with my medical.
Never went back to that AME after that charade

Pace

[hoggy87]

I need glasses to fly, so I'm required to carry a spare pair too. I carry my prescription sunglasses as my spare pair, saves forking out for two pairs of normal glasses which I wouldn't need otherwise. As some retailers offer two pairs for a pretty good price, I get a pair of each. Haven't needed new glasses for a long time though.

[gasax]

I wear prescription glasses all the time. I flew a perspex bubble cockpit and generally do not need sunglasses - an IQ reducer (peaked cap) actually does the job very well and I find makes things like the Garmin much easier to read.

I do have a set of prescription sunglasses as well - they get worn very occasionally. So occasionally useful but I would not bother unless you are fflying somewhere really warm and bright - like the south of France or better.

[phiggsbroadband]

Hi, my AME detected that I needed reading glasses to correct my near vision.

So I went to the local optician who gave me a prescription to correct the near vision, but she also found that a very small correction was needed for long distance.

As they were giving a Three for Two deal, I decided one pair should be Varifocal with Photochromatic Lenses. These have proved to be 'The Bees Knees' whilst flying as I dont have to swop about when reading the map.

Whilst at home I still just use the full size reading glasses, and my AME is quite content for me to use no glasses on the Long distance test, and the reading glasses for close up vision test.

[localflighteast]

It may be overkill but I carry around a stupid amount of eyewear with me in my flight bag.
I have the "must wear corrective lenses" endorsement on my licence.
I wear contacts, my AME informs me I have to carry glasses with me as well.

So I wear contacts & carry spare glasses. I also, of course have sunglasses, but I need two types. Non prescription to wear with my contacts and prescription in case I ever lose a lens and require sunglasses.

As far as I know I can't get away with just carrying the prescription sunglasses but to my mind , seeing as I wear sunglasses for about 95% of my flights, wearing ordinary prescription glasses with no tint would be almost as bad as wearing no lenses at all.

I'm lucky in that eye prescription hasn't changed since I was sixteen , so I just throw my deeply unfashionable old glasses in my flight bag!

[dublinpilot]

If you are required to wear glasses then you must carry a second pair with you. (It will be written on your medical).

The second pair might as well be prescription glasses.

I find that I wear sun glasses on almost all flights for the reasons described earlier. The light tends to be brighter in the air where there are no ground obstructions to block out bits of it.

I only tend to wear clear glasses on the dullest of days.

dp

[LightningBoots]

Hello fellow Blackbusher :thumb:

I carry my old prescription glasses as my spare pair, since my prescription didn't change much last time it was updated. I've got prescription sunglasses too, but rarely use them, just have them wedged into the case with my spares. Frankly I can see alright without any of them, but rules are rules and I find going from prescription glasses to non-prescription does take a few mins to adapt to, so prefer to keep it constant between sunnies and non-sunnies.

Thing that bugged me was frame style - I used to favour the thick framed 'I work in the media doncha know' type of glasses but found them really annoying to wear with a headset - all sorts of problems with that. Changed to some glasses with much thinner frames and everything's gravy now.

[John R81]

I have both normal and sunglasses in the same perscription. As I am old, I need reading help too. I went for bifocals (not varifocals) because as a Heli pilot I need the outside bottom quarter to be distance, and I can get that with bifocals. Also, no risk of losing something in the gradient of varifocals.

Mostly I wear the sunglases and a peaked cap - strobe effect through the rotars can give you a headache.

[Deano1973]

Many thanks for all the replies! A spare set it is then, and they'll be sunglasses in order to cover all bases.

[jollyrog]

Swapping glasses in flight won't be fun, with a headset on. There are times during a flight when you start with sunglasses, then don't want them, then want them back. Each time, it will be a dual action for you, one pair off, another pair on. Interim moment each time when you are without correction.

I wear contact lenses with plain sunglasses. It works for me.

[BackPacker]

I wear contact lenses with plain sunglasses. It works for me.

Me too. And when doing aerobatics my required "spare set of spectacles" is actually my old set of (hard) contact lenses. Same prescription and everything as my current set, just a few years older.

It's not quite legal, but I find bringing a spare set of contacts safer than bringing a spare set of spectacles:

1. Much easier to carry around *safely* on an aeros flight. I can just put them in my pants pocket.
2. I can swap out a single contact lens if necessary. Putting on my spare glasses if something happens to one of the contacts requires removing the other contact lens as well, and will render me temporary blind.
3. I have not worn glasses in a very, very long time and get an instant headache if I do because the focus is different (in the center of the glass instead of in the center of where I'm looking) and around the edges of the glasses the image is distorted.

(When flying S&L I have my flight bag with me. In it is the spare set of spectacles to make things legal, and the spare set of contacts for use in emergencies. Honestly, the only time the spare set of spectacles comes out of the case is at the medical. And last time the AME didn't even need to see them when I told him nothing changed since the previous medical.)

[Jude098]

I got one of the local high street glasses places (SpeckSavers) to make me bi-focals. 1pair clear, 1 pair brown tint (brilliant for overcast days) and 1 pair dark grey (for sunny days...well we might get some here's hoping). Did 1 pair first to check that the bifocal line was just where the cowling and windscreen met. They had to remark and slightly raise; but did it at no extra cost.

Remember to ask for the sunglasses to be NON-polarised.....you want to catch that glint off that other aircraft in the distance well before it and you get too near together!

Do not get varifocals as in the middle there will be a neither one nor the other prescription.

[localflighteast]

Backpacker , just curious
Have you ever tried to change contact lenses in flight?
I admit that I'm a mere student pilot and all fingers and thumbs at the best of time but I really can't see me being able to put in a lens on the fly
I wear soft lenses , which I believe are larger than hard . One small jolt and wouldn't you lose the lens on the floor ?

[Ebbie 2003]

We old 'uns who prefer to spend our money on flying rather than poncy Raybans - prefer $15 clip-on - or the more fancy flip up ones for $20 (they sit nicely flush with under the peak of a baseball cap (very useful to block the sun) - out here in the sunny tropics sunglasses are a must but not all the time. OK they can look a bit silly for the younger - Sky Captain opf the future but, just take them off when you're walking on the ramp!

One other thing to bear in mind is that if you "need" sunglasses i.e. you find it impossible to fly in some conditions without them then you will need two pairs as you should have spares available and readily to hand - plus a spare of your clear glasses - the cost adds up.

[RatherBeFlying]

The spare glasses are kept in the aircraft. In Canada, many frames come with magnetic polarised clipons as do both my flying glasses.

There's a number of miracle lenses advertised that I might be tempted to have ground for one of my clipon frames, but first I would try out the fitovers.

[tecman]

I noticed the comment about getting neutral density glasses, rather than polaroids, was well buried in the thread - but I'd like to second it. If you fly aircraft with stress-formed perspex, you can get some very odd polarization effects which can be distracting. Actually, despite flying a bubble canopy aircraft in the Oz sun, I prefer my regular untinted varifocal glasses, a decent cap, and some suction roof shades on the brightest days. I find that even neutral density sunnies do impact what I can see on the ground. I'm prepared to believe that everyone is different but try the hat and shade before going for the ace of he base look :)

[BackPacker]

Remember to ask for the sunglasses to be NON-polarised....

Been there, done that. It's not just the flash of other aircraft, or the perspex canopy. Modern screens, such as the iPad screen and many displays of modern avionics, are also polarized and are unreadable in the wrong orientation. With my favourite pair of sunglasses I can only use the iPad in landscape mode, and I have to tilt my head ever so slightly so that the frequency display on the radio is readable.

Have you ever tried to change contact lenses in flight?

I have hard contacts. Have had them for 20 years and only had problems with them a few times. Typically in high-wind situation where some sand or grit blew in my eyes. Not much chance of that in an aircraft.

Yes, I can change them bare-handed without the aid of a mirror or something. With hard lenses the trick is to put some spit on your fingertip first and put the lens on top of the spit. That'll keep it in place.

Anyway, I'm not recommending you carry a spare set of contact lenses instead of a spare set of spectacles. That would be illegal of course. So this is entirely theoretical...:oh:

[Whopity]

After a shaky start with Varifocals, I finally got a pair that work for flying with good all roud focus rather than up down focus. These things have improved immensely in a few years. I was asked if I'd like a free second pair of glasses and give a number of options. Finally I settle for a pair of sunglasses but added the option of having the same varifocal prescription, it cast about £30 extra and to date these are the best flying sun glasses I've had since the days before I needed glasses.

[Deano1973]

@ Ebbie 2003 I hadn't thought of just adding some simple clip-ons. I'm not worried about looking flash, and it'll do until such time as I have spare dosh for anything more expensive.

Specsavers often have buy one get-one-free offers, so I might get lucky there too.

Thanks for all the helpful replies! Looks like I've found a great forum here :)

[localflighteast]

@backpacker
Fair enough
I guess with hard lenses you don't have to worry about them folding up like my ultra thin dailies do
I will stick with my accumulation of glasses I think

[phiggsbroadband]

Hi, just off tangent perhaps...

I was flying one day with my regular glasses and noticed my ear was feeling wet, I thought I might have been sweating...

Turned out the gell had come out of the headset pad and had filled my ear-'ole. This could have been caused by nipping the ear-pad with the spec frames, whilst making changes in flight.

One less distraction I could have done without.

[riverrock83]

As other have said - make sure the sunglasses are a neutral tint so as not to interfere with colour vision, and not polarised so that they don't block digital screens. Also don't get photochromatic as perspex screens block much of the UV light they need to activate, so they often don't go dark enough (this is aircraft dependant but you get the same problem in lots of cars).

Tell the optician why you are looking - they do so much mundane stuff that they often love doing something different!

Try to make sure that they don't interfere with periphery vision, either by having them sit very close to your eyes or have larger lenses. I have prescription aviators (can't remember if there is a brand on them). Because of the large lens surface area, the lenses have to be thicker than normal. My prescription isn't huge (around 2 - I'm short sighted) and its fine for me - but its worth thinking about.

I have a gradated tint on mine, which seems to work well.

Best of luck finding something that works!

[BackPacker]

I guess with hard lenses you don't have to worry about them folding up like my ultra thin dailies do

Nope. You fold them, they break. I once broke a lens in two because it got stuck under my nail while cleaning them.

I tried day lenses once - the thin soft fluffy kind. Could not get them in or out. There must be a knack to it but I didn't discover it. Not having a separate bottle of fluid, but having to make do with the fluid that came in the little individual packages didn't help.

[localflighteast]

the trick with soft lenses is to actually keep them and your finger as dry as possible. They are hydrophilic , keep them dry enough and they fairly leap from your finger into your eye (or onto your face if you didn't dry it properly , or the wet bathroom counter).

This also means that if you are totally drunk and dehydrated , they come out a lot easier too!

[Rowls]

I wear varifocals but can't get on with the same design / prescription with a tint preferring to go without. Was thinking about clip ons but noticed on the CAA guidance that it says 'piano' sunglasses are not acceptable. Thought they might be the same thing. Google no help!

[BackPacker]

This also means that if you are totally drunk and dehydrated , they come out a lot easier too!

I still have a few left somewhere. If I ever use them again, I'll try to remember this tip! (And of course with one-day lenses you don't have to worry about getting them back in the proper container. That's a significant advantage when seriously pissed...)

[localflighteast]

The main problem ( when drunk)is forgetting which lens you've taken out and then trying to remove the lens from the same eye twice
That's painful !!!