Bifocals?
 

Some advice please. My optician is trying to get me to buy graduated bifocals, which I’m a little worried about. Anyone with experience of these?
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"Fair is foul, foul is fair,
Hover through the fog and filthy air..." Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 1

[This message has been edited by t'aint natural (edited 23 May 2001).]

By "Graduated" do you mean the so-called "no line" bifocals? No matter, I've worn glasses the last 30 years of my flying career, both lined (you can easily see the reading portion), and the no line (the person looking at you can't differentiate where the prescription changes). There was no transition process. I did put the split lens back on out of curiosity and didn't like them.

My concern is that in certain regimes of flight when it's required to glance down at acute angles, past my feet, I'd be looking through the "close-up" section of the lens. (This would apply to non-graduated bifocals, too, where the line is visible). I don't know any helicopter pilot who wears bifocals. Or am I worrying unnecessarily?

I have flown with both types of bifocals and I much more prefer the lined. The "No Line" have a very smaller area of vision in the bifocal portion of the glass, in that I mean the perscription portion of the glass is much smaller versus the lined glass. I find I have to move my head much more with the "No Line" to compensate for the smaller vision area than I do with the lined.

t'aint :

My wife is a dispensing optician who's come across this sort of thing before. She went into a technical ramble about varifocals and flying, and if you want she'd be happy to converse directly ( email or phone ). However if you get a good opticians they should be able to tell you all my wife would.

If you want, drop me a line and I'll put you in touch.

I have flown for years with with bifocals, and have no problems with them.

They are of the line type, and are especially made with the line high up the lens to accommodate IFR flying in plankers.

The strength of the low part is slightly more than would normally be prescribed, optimized for the distance of the panel rather than reading distance.

The top of the instrument panel corresponds to the line.

This set up also works well for me flying helis, although as a student I'm not doing "look down" work. I do miss out on seeing the graininess of ground references (i.e. blades of grass and lumps of asphalt), but manage to assess height nonetheless.

I would not hesitate to try bifocals set up properly for your flying if that's what the professional recommends.

I am a professional pilot and use graduated bifocals that are focused at 30 inches at the top of the lower section, and at 10 inches at the very bottom. I quickly learned to adjust, and find them great for flying. I can sharply focus on the panel and then read a chart, things I can't do with conventional bifocals.

Hidalgo will even put upper bifocals to let you read the upper switch panels if that's what you need. Their quality is good, and the prices are competitive.

In any case, I really like the segmented bifocals.



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Nick Lappos

Nick,

Not to be worn for TV appearances, of course...... :rolleyes:

Wear Varifocals myself, I have no trouble with them at all. In fact, they're 100% better than the bifocals that I used before.

If you have any reservations wear them for a few days before you fly with them. I think you will find them a big improvement.

Chopperman.

Spectacles for the last 7 of 30 years. First landing with specs was the biggest adjustment- the hover was 6 inches not 3 feet. Prefer "lineless" bifocals even tho the optimal reading area is smaller. The phased transition does seem to give me some advantage, but mostly I found the line on conventioanl bifocals distracting.