Failing a medical exam...what happens?
 

So what would happen if I went in to get a first class medical and one of my eyes could not see 20/20...lets say only 20/30. Would he just automatically award me a 3rd class medical? Or would I fail the first class...and would that go on my record? Could I keep flying as a CFI until the paperwork processed? Thanks!

I had a student fail an eye exam and the doc told him to go get glasses and come back. once he passed with glasses they just put the requirement for corrective lenses on the back of his certificate. no big deal as far as i remember.

You probably (99.99%) just need glasses, try that first. If you haven't already go see a good optometrist/opthamologist (not the mass production docs at lenscrafter).

If you see 20/30 with a current prescription, go see an opthamologist...odds are very good the prescription is incorrect but you want to rule out anything else as well.

If you go to the AME, he can definitely give you a 3C. He could probably call OKC and get a waiver for a 1C but he is more likely to tell you to go get new glasses instead.

Healthy young people do not experience noticeable reductions in basic visual acuity, other than that caused by refractive (lens) error which is totally correctable with glasses. If the AME thinks that there is something going on besides refractive error, he may require more investigation to rule out some sort of degenerative problem which will get worse (this sort of thing normally affects old people).

If for some reason you experienced a sudden change which is not correctable to 20/20 in one eye I'm pretty sure the AME can call OKC and get a waiver on the spot. This assumes there is no suspicion of a degenerative problem.

Happened to me once. Doc said he would keep the application open until I came back with glasses. Ran off to the mass production guy, bought one hour glasses, got the First class the same day.

Opt doc thought I was nuts for buying the glasses: 20/30 in each eye! I only wear them in the plane.

The first class requires 20/20 distant and 20/40 near so if the 20/30 is near vision it's not an issue.

That's true. If the issue is with near vision you might be able to fix it with reading non-prescription glasses from the drug store.