New Spex
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Joined: Sep 2000
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From: Milton Keynes
New Spex
The firm gave me eycare vouchers for a free eyesight test a few weeks ago. The lady who did it said ....(who did the eye test..ok?) you need glasses made to this prescription. I was then shown an array of frames at around £150 then when I balked, £99 to £60 to £40 and the £25 bottom of the range. I chose at the £40 mark, and they said as the prescription was for 'readers' to correct near vision, it would not make much sense to take up the promotional offer of a free pair of matching prescription sunglasses! Instead I chose anti-reflective and scratch coating FOC instead of £45+ . The compnay paid £50 of it, but I think I should now be kicking myself, since it occured to me that , now I have been 'prescribed' glasses, I'm supposed to have a spare pair with me on the flight deack at all times when PIC. Right? If so, damn it all I shoudl have realised I could have got the second pair untinted ! What are the possibilites of using off the shelf readers that are failry close to my prescription? Just to maintain legality that is! or will I have to get a second pair now?
Why do it if it's not fun?
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 4,782
Likes: 12
From: Bournemouth
Now I have been 'prescribed' glasses, I'm supposed to have a spare pair with me on the flight deack at all times when PIC. Right?
I wear specs. When I go for my medical, I get tested once with specs, and then again without. My eyesight without specs is within the required standards, therefore I don't need to wear my glasses when I fly. I usually choose to do so, I feel more comfortable, but I have flown without wearing them on occassion.
What is true is that if your medical specifies that you need specs, you must carry a spare pair. It may be that when you next get your medical renewed, this requirement gets added. But since you didn't need specs until recently, you might get away with not needing them, as I don't.
FFF
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,650
Likes: 0
From: Chichester, UK
Can it wait until next medical? Seems like a potential cause of grief if anything happens and it turns out that your eyesight is out of limits. Probably worth calling your AME and telling him the prescription - see what he thinks.
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 153
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From: Bedfordshire UK
Andrew M
Yes, you can but they don't work very well inside the cockpit as they rely on UV light to activate them and most of the UV is blocked by the windscreen (same in the car).
My everyday specs are of this type and they work very well outdoors but not in the car or aeroplane.
I have a pair of perscription sunglasses for flying and use my everyday ones as my spare or the reverse on really dull days.
C-I-M
Yes, you can but they don't work very well inside the cockpit as they rely on UV light to activate them and most of the UV is blocked by the windscreen (same in the car).
My everyday specs are of this type and they work very well outdoors but not in the car or aeroplane.
I have a pair of perscription sunglasses for flying and use my everyday ones as my spare or the reverse on really dull days.
C-I-M
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,443
Likes: 1
From: Cambridge, England, EU
If you need your glasses to fly then you need to carry an identical spare pair, as per the rubber stamp on your medical certificate.
Wearing glasses that your AME doesn't know about doesn't sound terribly clever. You might think that wearing low powered reading glasses so as to see the map better is a good idea, but what's it going to do for your distance vision? You simply don't know unless you've been tested wearing them.
Don't I recall from the air law course something about it being a requirement to notify the CAA when you start to need glasses? What they do about it is up to them, but one might guess that the medical certificate is suspended until you've had an AME check out your eyesight again, and you've got the optician's questionnaire filled in.
If you need near vision glasses to read the map and the paperwork but mustn't wear them for distance vision then taking them on and off can't be a good idea, and you'd want to check whether it was actually legal. The usual advice is to get bifocals with plain glass at the top. (Varifocals are allowed but not recommended by the CAA's optician chappie.)
Price: ah, yes. Well, I've had less than perfect eyesight since about age 7, and being able to see as well as possible is important to me; I don't care what it costs, being able to see takes precedence over anything else I might want to spend money on. I choose frames for functionality rather than fashion; the main requirement is for those clever hinges so that the side pieces can hinge outwards when something, like for instance a child, bashes you in the face - that way you avoid months of tedious journeys to the optician trying to get them bent back straight again. (If you don't realise your glasses have been bent out of shape you can get headaches which doctors don't understand, and they try to treat you with migrane pills because they haven't diagnosed the real cause. Needless to say this doesn't work).
So, on starting to fly again recently I discussed with the CAA what was needed and allowed in the way of glasses, then got my optician to make some bifocals (normally I switch between reading and distance vision glasses which obviously isn't on when flying), then got her to have another go when the first pair didn't turn out right. Then another visit for her to carry out some of the tests required for the optician's questionnaire. (It was with great glee that she told me she's retiring in July.)
So, cost around £450 for the two pairs of bifocals, which I'm only ever going to use in the aircraft. Not very many hours' flying. There really isn't any sane alternative to doing it properly.
Wearing glasses that your AME doesn't know about doesn't sound terribly clever. You might think that wearing low powered reading glasses so as to see the map better is a good idea, but what's it going to do for your distance vision? You simply don't know unless you've been tested wearing them.
Don't I recall from the air law course something about it being a requirement to notify the CAA when you start to need glasses? What they do about it is up to them, but one might guess that the medical certificate is suspended until you've had an AME check out your eyesight again, and you've got the optician's questionnaire filled in.
If you need near vision glasses to read the map and the paperwork but mustn't wear them for distance vision then taking them on and off can't be a good idea, and you'd want to check whether it was actually legal. The usual advice is to get bifocals with plain glass at the top. (Varifocals are allowed but not recommended by the CAA's optician chappie.)
Price: ah, yes. Well, I've had less than perfect eyesight since about age 7, and being able to see as well as possible is important to me; I don't care what it costs, being able to see takes precedence over anything else I might want to spend money on. I choose frames for functionality rather than fashion; the main requirement is for those clever hinges so that the side pieces can hinge outwards when something, like for instance a child, bashes you in the face - that way you avoid months of tedious journeys to the optician trying to get them bent back straight again. (If you don't realise your glasses have been bent out of shape you can get headaches which doctors don't understand, and they try to treat you with migrane pills because they haven't diagnosed the real cause. Needless to say this doesn't work).
So, on starting to fly again recently I discussed with the CAA what was needed and allowed in the way of glasses, then got my optician to make some bifocals (normally I switch between reading and distance vision glasses which obviously isn't on when flying), then got her to have another go when the first pair didn't turn out right. Then another visit for her to carry out some of the tests required for the optician's questionnaire. (It was with great glee that she told me she's retiring in July.)
So, cost around £450 for the two pairs of bifocals, which I'm only ever going to use in the aircraft. Not very many hours' flying. There really isn't any sane alternative to doing it properly.
