Eye sight
 

My apologies if their is an earlier thread, couldn't find it. At decision stage at the minute i.e. have my ppl and extra hours, now must decide whether to spend larger amounts to achieve CPL and IR, career change. I have a class 1 medical but do have to wear classes for driving (and flying). Despite having a class 1 medical, am i likely to get over looked by airliners as, without glasses, my eye sight might not be as good as other potentials - to make matter worse i'll be 32 by the time i'm fully qualified.

Not a problem.

Go for the best training and all anyone will care about is your aptitude.

As regards the glasses, the airline that discounted pilots who have full class one medical because they have to wear glasses would be very short sighted!

More important is your aptitude and character!

Aviation law requires that you always carry a spare pair of glasses when fyling, but other than this the fact that you don't have perfect vision irrelevant. A class one is a class one! :D

OK so some companies (well, just the one as far as I know, BA) might have slightly higher standards, but if you have all the qualifications and are "the right sort of person" then I think there is a good amount of flexibility in the requirements.

As an aside, I initially failed my class one due to a muscle imbalance in my eye. I have since had corrective surgery involving shortening the imbalanced muscle, and have attained the required standard for class 1 medical. I am currently studying for my ATPL's on an integrated course.

If you are concerned or unsure, and the information available online (see the links to the medical section on the archive thread) is insufficient then it is well worth phoning the CAA medical centre at Gatwick and asking to speak tot he relevant specialist. I found the opthalmologist extremely helpful, and he genuinely seemed gutted when I first went and he had to decline the medical! A thoroughly nice bloke! He even spent half an hour going through the options with me, and trying to see if there was any chance I might be able to have the class one as was!

Good luck to anyone who is going through the medical process!

Facing the Harse Truth of Employement
 

hey all,

well im new to these forums, names michael and im 17. :}

well ive had one major question on my mind, and that is it more likely for an airline company to employee a person if they have 20/20 vision, over a person such as myself with almost perfect vision ( -1.5 D correctible to 20/20)

I have this notion because it seems only logical if i were the employee to take on a person who could be said is "smack on the spot".
Of course this is dependent on a persons qualifications but,lets pretend both potential employees have have achieved the same qualifications.

what views do you guys n girls have on this?

errr..


possible but if you have a medical - you have a medical!!

When i was interviewed they didnt ask if i was on the boundary to wear glasses or not....:8

legally, it is not their buiness.and they don't have access to your files!so you can tell them whatever you want to make them happy!
as long you have a medical, you have the right to fly.

For a pilot position, as long as you hold a class 1 medical thats all that matters :ok:

I done just that ^^^^. Wanted the airline pilot thing badly, it was in my blood stream from a very young age, i thought to myself i should hold out 3 more years and get a degree under my belt, doing computer science at the moment, enjoying it, having a good time playing cricket at a high level now, and getting some life exposure away from home. I have spoke to some very good guys off this forum, who went direct to flight school, so you can still make it without the whole degree thing, it was just a personal decision for me.

ahwell we well see in a few years what will happen, touch wood I will be flying high one day :ok: I don't mind not living the fancy life and having loads of money, having enough to get me by with some extra left for personal use, would suit me just fine. Id rather be in that situation and flying rather than having loads of dosh and not flying.

Getting a degree as you said, is what im really focusing on for time being, and i hope ill be able to go to university after my A-levels and take a course such as Avionics or possibly some other realted course.

And on the exprience part you were talking about, for the time being ive been trying to get a work experience placement or even a part time job at my local airfield.
____________________________________________________________ __
cheers for the feedback everyone, atleast now the eyesight question ive been thinking of is now set aside:)

Hi there

I am 19 and currently require glasses one with 0.5D and the other 1.0D.

Does this automatically disqualify me from the RAF?


Regards
PPL152

hi, i'm just a passer-by but would really liked to know more about the requirement to be a pilot. If a person experienced some difficulty in comparing the colours ( you can say it is colour blind, but still manage to differentiate yellow, red, green, blue and some 'simple' colour), is it a gap for him/her to become a aviator in the future?? Sorry, if i made it too difficult to understand.

What are the renewal specifications for class 1?
 

Hey there, i was just wondering what the renewal specifications are for the class 1?

Im 17 i wear glasses and i am just out of the boundry on one eye.

Basically what are my chances, i mean i feel like up to now iv been sacrificying everything to be a pilot.

Im studying Aerospace engineering, Airline and Airport Operations at college.

Could i get it on the renewal, or should i have the laser treatment.

ACPT747

You can check on the JAA website or the CAA for Civil Medical Requirements.

PPL 152 Go to the Military Aircrew forum, look through the sticky on RAF recruiting.

Unicorn Colour blindness is not acceptable in a pilot. As far as I am aware, there are no exceptions to this for commercial licences.

Scroggs

I'd highly recommend the laser eye, But it isn't for everyone. Visit one and have a chat, the major ones are very professional.:ok:

Hello Wannabes. You might like to do a search in Medical Forum for discussion also. Eyesight http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=220545 (about 400 posts on the topic).

scroggs Thanks for your advice. For the passenger's safety concern, i think it's time for me to let go and search for another possible career. But it's hard to do so, IT IS... thanks anyway.

Concidering an ATPL career: please advise!
 

Good day!

I am 26 and have been envolved with commercial aviation since 20 but only in the office side of the job. I am concidering a career change and would like to train to become an airline pilot.

I am in good health, but I have a rather poor eyesight: -4.75 and -4.5
I heard that nowadays they allow people to fly with corrective lenses/glasses even if your sight is not 100%. But I'd like to know from experienced pilots here if there is a limit to how bad your eyesight can be? Or do they now accept as long as you have 100% sight in corrective lenses? I wear soft contact lenses for over 8 years now.

I need to know this before I go for official med exam. Any advise?

Thank You.

I guess you can check in the CAA website and as far as I know the limit is +/-5. Not sure though.

Also, you might wanna check in the Medical Forum here at PPRuNe.

New eyesight limits...
 

The CAA recently announced that there had been revisions to the eyesight requirements for Class 1 Medicals. I believe you can now get an initial medical with -6 dioptres (there are limits on anisometropia) and get a renewal with NO lower limit on eyesight.

HTH