Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
#1885980
Thanks all - some useful stuff here. I fear I may be going to need varifocal sunglasses. Thus far I’ve got away with varifocal normal glasses and my old prescription single vision sunglasses but I’m finding checklists are too near my eyes!
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By Rob P
#1885988
@NDB_hold

A solution that worked for me for a long time was contact lenses for distance and a pair of uncorrected sunnies with reading segments

Rob P
#1886227
Rob P wrote:@NDB_hold

A solution that worked for me for a long time was contact lenses for distance and a pair of uncorrected sunnies with reading segments

Rob P

Thanks - I’ve always avoided contact lenses because I’m chicken about putting stuff in my eyes.

My wife had LASIK, awake and conscious while someone cut her eyes with a scalpel. No thanks.
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By Rob P
#1886260
I have recently had cataract surgery, awake and fully conscious. I was terrified.

It was a non-event.

Modern soft lenses? Plop onto the surface of the eye pretty much unaided. No squeamishness triggered. But thanks to the cataract surgery I now have the eyes of a hawk with 20/20 vision and a decent pair of binoculars (but can't focus unassisted on anything closer than about two arms lengths.)

Rob P
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1886280
mick w wrote:Light sensitive Varifocals have always been good for me :thumright:


But the light sensitivity of varifocals does not work behind a windscreen, be it car or aeroplane.

They can however work too well, especially on a bright day in mid winter in the school playground at pick up time one can look a bit of a dork, apparently wearing sunnies.

Ask me how I know................. :roll:

Thread drift:

My visual acuity can vary dramatically from year to year, depending as it does on the quality of the illumination of the AME's Snellen chart lightbox and the ambient light to read the near vision text card.
#1886281
PeteSpencer wrote:My visual acuity can vary dramatically from year to year, depending as it does on the quality of the illumination of the AME's Snellen chart lightbox and the ambient light to read the near vision text card.


Because I used to wear contact lenses I found it easier just to pop along to Vision Express in Bury, get my eyes properly tested and present the AME with a prescription that included a proper field of vision assessment.

AME are by and large lacking in ophthalmic credentials and, as you point out, appropriate equipment.

Rob P
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By StratoTramp
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1886286
Probably not a problem for you experienced pilots. But I found the stand off helped from aviator-eske glasses.

To be honest I don't find the workload so high now. But when glasses are separated from your face they are less likely to steam up at key junctures like landing :lol:

Almost had to go round once earlier when I was learning to land at Sackville because my older Ray-Ban Justin's were steaming up. :roll:

Now I have some Polaroid wire type that sit away from your face like Ray-Ban Aviators.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1886291
Rob P wrote:
AME are by and large lacking in ophthalmic credentials and, as you point out, appropriate equipment.

Rob P



Too right !

When my AME of 20 years retired 6 years ago my new guy had such a brilliant new surgery/testing set up with brighttly lit kit that he declared when testing that I met the visual acuity requirements without any correction ( partly due to relaxation of CAA requirements,)

Sadly he fell out with CAA/CELLMA and jacked it all in.

New AME's set up was so gloomy I apparently need correction for near vision despite the fact I can still read books/newspapers/small print and in a brightly lit Tesco, the ingredients list on the smallest tin of tomatoes without specs ……Go figure :shock:
By LoLar
#1886768
I've also worn Serengeti Driver's Gradient for years in my plane and glider. Nothing comes close.
Serengeti drivers, red lenses, I haven't found anything better since 1989. I also have Zeiss Skylet lenses, rather orange, very effective when the brightness decreases. https://www.zeiss.fr/vision-care/mieux- ... louds.html
Last edited by LoLar on Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.