CAA class 1 medical RXO limitation, yearly opthalmologist examination required

[plusblade]

Hi everyone,

I'm an aspiring airline pilot and was wondering if this would affect future employment. I passed my CLASS 1 medical with 0 issues, better than 20/20 vision however I suffer from mild dry eyes with plugs fitted by my optometrist, I used drops 3x a day. Technically speaking dry eyes isn't something that is an issue with getting a class 1 and I have no issues with vision, so i was refereed, no further examinations were required then passed my medical. For my initial there were aware that I was looking to apply to easyJet, I've emailed easyjet pilot recruitment and they said there have plenty of pilots with RXO limitations and "should" not be an issue

Personally I've spoken to a few pilots, and they too suffer from dry eyes in the flightdeck due to the cooling of avionics, dry cabin and sometimes wearing contact lenses

Was just wondering if anyone has experience/thoughts. No point of me spending loads of money to then get denied, the yearly checkup is just to check if the dry is getting worse/affecting my vision or ability to fly

Many thanks

[605carsten]

RXO is just a code for a deeper checkup, and many have it written on it so I would not worry. Whats the longest airline flight you have been on as a paasenger? How did you eyes feel after that? If no problems then you are fine.. but you may want to avoid flying longhaul and just stick to inter-european airlines as then you dont fatigue your eyes as much as doing 12-15 hour legs thru the night in that dry air.

[plusblade]

Originally Posted by 605carsten

RXO is just a code for a deeper checkup, and many have it written on it so I would not worry. Whats the longest airline flight you have been on as a paasenger? How did you eyes feel after that? If no problems then you are fine.. but you may want to avoid flying longhaul and just stick to inter-european airlines as then you dont fatigue your eyes as much as doing 12-15 hour legs thru the night in that dry air.

Really really appreciate your reply, I recently heard back from a Wizzair recruitment captain recently as well and said should be all good, longest flight I did was Gatwick to Venice, my eyes did get dry however it was not painful nor did my vision get blurry, I can maintain with eye drops. I take good care of my eyes, I know some pilots that use contacts (which makes eyes more dry) but that wouldn't come up in a medical. Looking at my eyes you wouldn't know that they were dry e.g puffy, red. I have no other issues with eye, vision is excellent, nor any other medical conditions