Medical & HealthNews and debate about medical and health issues as they relate to aircrews and aviation. Any information gleaned from this forum MUST be backed up by consulting your state-registered health professional or AME.
I've always been wary of cheap sunglasses - your iris opens wider with shades on, and if the lenses are not very good at blocking the UV rays then you can get serious eye damage (over the long term). It is well worth paying for good lenses.
Randolph Engineering, Concorde Model with the grey/green lenses. Imho colors look very natural. I neither like the greenish color feel of Ray Bans nor the reddish one of Serengetis.
Oh and the other day, I was using my EUR 4 sunclasses from the discounter. Seemed to work almost as good. They have this 400% UV protection as well.
Oakley Minutes fitted with a black iradium lens, you will never look back. Oakleys best UV protection, very light, covers the whole field of vision and fits nicely under headset.
For strong light environments (above cloud layers, ...), we recommend any Julbo (see julbo.fr) sunglasses model with Alti Spectron x6 glasses, it has flash protection and anti-glare, tunes down any excess of light, still allowing to see in high resolution at extreme distances.
Lots of praise for Serengeti's found in this thread.
Rather confusing though since i've read a few articles that say photochromic lenses are not suitable for flying.
From an article on Transport Canada's site:
Quote:
Photochromic lenses that darken with increasing UV light are good for driving, but polycarbonate aircraft canopies shield out much of the ultraviolet rays and may interfere with their proper darkening. Additionally, going from bright sunlight into cloud the glasses may take several minutes to lighten
From an article by a FAA Vision Research specialist:
Quote:
Glass photochromic lenses (PhotoGray(r) and PhotoBrown(r)) automatically darken when exposed to UV and become lighter in dim light. Most of the darkening takes place in the first 60 seconds, while lightening may take several minutes. Although most photochromic glass lenses can get as dark as regular sunglasses (approximately 20% light transmittance in direct sunlight), their darkened state may be lighter due to the reduced UV exposure through the windscreen. In addition, the faded state of photochromic glass lenses may not be clear enough to be useful when flying in cloud cover or at night.
I find Cebe Athlon ski glasses with brown-orange lenses are fantastic for both keeping the strong sunlight out of my eyes and for the comfort of the frames. The frames are comfy with headset on and also mean that the sunglasses never fall off, whether skiing or flying.
Cloudmaster are a very good make, relaxing on the eye, and give a good contrast to clouds. Cheaper than Serengeti, but the lens are prone to scatches. Avaliable from AFE in the UK, along with Serengeti's
Fingersmac, you are welcome to give an opinion, or refer readers to further information. A post that only contains a link to a commercial site is not acceptable.
Cheers, BM
Last edited by Bad medicine : 23rd October 2005 at 13:11.
I would not advise Polarisd glasses. One one flight I found that I could not read the FMS panel at all and the EADI/EHSI also appeared very strange. It so turned out that the FMS Panel has horizontal lines which were illuminated and my glasses let in only vertical light hence the inability to read the displays. The ac is ATR
)
Linear Mode
