stillsearstower

I'm about a year away from starting flight school and I had an examination today just to be sure I could pass it. However I did not pass the vision portion of it even though I was wearing my contacts. The AME told me I should come back within two weeks and try with my glasses instead. I've never had anyone tell me my vision couldn't be corrected to 20/20. Would the glasses really help me pass or do I need to see if I have a bad prescription?

rickair7777

Go to a GOOD optometrist and see if you need a new prescription. Glasses are waaaay better than contacts for flight medical tests, and you need to wear them for at least several days to get accustomed to them.

Make sure the glasses with the new prescription actually work for you. A typical young person *should* correct to better than 20/20 (I was 20/10 as a kid).

If the glasses don't seem right, try wearing them for a few days and then go get tested again (or make your own eye chart off the internet).

If they still don't work, have the doc try a slightly different prescription. Lenscrafters is good, if you don't like the prescription, they'll usually redo it and make new lenses.

Also, large dorky glasses are better than narrow trendy frames. I have a set that I keep fine-tuned for vision tests, it lives in my flight bag as my spare glasses and gets worn twice a year.

If that doesn't work, there might be other options too.

CaptYoda

Most AME's I have been to prefer you to wear glasses for the medical as they have to do the corrected and uncorrected acuity test.

RadialGal

Yup,

I'll second that. I always wear my glasses when I go for my Class I.

PS, If you wear contacts flying, you should keep a pair of glasses easily accessible. Contacts can pop out during Rapid D's.

RadialGal

stillsearstower

Thanks for all the help you guys. I went to a different eye doctor and it turns out I had a bad prescription. Unfortunately I could not get the glasses in time to retake the test so I had to change it to a third class medical.