PPL Prescription sunglasses.

[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...

[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 !!!