padraig@utastro.UUCP (Padraig Houlahan) (04/24/85)
I believe that one is allowed to fly if contact lenses are used. This raises an interesting issue. My contacts are semi-hard gas permeable, giving me excellent vision. They do have serious, and potentially fatal drawbacks though, where flying would be concerned (I am not a pilot). The first concerns dust and grit getting into my eyes. When this happens, and it has a few times while driving here in Texas, I find the irritation incredibly distracting; my eyes blink like crazy, and tears appear very quickly in some instances. In other words my eyes demand almost immediate attention, no matter what else I'm doing. That this could happen to a pilot with similar contact lenses seems very probable to me, placing him in a dangerous situation if he was just about to land, or actually taking off. Has anyone experienced/know of this problem? The second problem concerns the small size of the hard contact lens. During the day the pupil of the eye is small, and hence completely covered by the lens. However, at night, with the pupil wide open in the dark, the edges of the contact lens overlap the pupil giving rise to fuzzy streaks about light sources. The cure when driving at night is to simply look at the lights of an oncoming car for a few seconds. What does the pilot with these lenses do when making night-time approaches? Padraig Houlahan.
dixon@rtp47.UUCP (Wally Dixon) (04/26/85)
> I believe that one is allowed to fly if contact lenses are used. This > raises an interesting issue. My contacts are semi-hard gas permeable, > giving me excellent vision. They do have serious, and potentially fatal > drawbacks though, where flying would be concerned (I am not a pilot). > > The first concerns dust and grit getting into my eyes. > When this happens, and it has a few times while driving here in Texas, > I find the irritation incredibly distracting; my eyes blink like crazy, > and tears appear very quickly in some instances. In other words my > eyes demand almost immediate attention, no matter what else I'm doing. > That this could happen to a pilot with similar contact lenses seems > very probable to me, placing him in a dangerous situation if he was just > about to land, or actually taking off. Has > anyone experienced/know of this problem? > > The second problem concerns the small size of the hard contact lens. > During the day the pupil of the eye is small, and hence completely > covered by the lens. However, at night, with the pupil wide open > in the dark, the edges of the contact lens overlap the pupil > giving rise to fuzzy streaks about light sources. The cure > when driving at night is to simply look at the lights of an oncoming > car for a few seconds. What does the pilot with these lenses > do when making night-time approaches? > > Padraig Houlahan. > I have been flying with soft contacts since `79, and have had only one problem with them in the air. It's probably inevitable that contact wearers will occasionally run across sudden grit, folding, etc, and unfortunately I guess it's one of the hazards of convenience. The best thing a pilot can do to prevent this is probably to keep his lenses clean, and keep his fingers away from the eyes. With me, nine times out of ten, folded contacts or foriegn objects have been a direct result of eye rubbing, in the air or on the ground. In the event something does happen, the only thing to do is to be cool, and if in controlled airspace, let someone know that there is a slight problem. If all else fails, maintain self control *big-time* and land with one eye. It's really something to think about, though. I know that I am going to try not to promote any contact problems myself next time I fly.
djmolny@wnuxb.UUCP (DJ Molny) (04/29/85)
I fly with soft (extended-wear) contact lenses with good results. Use of contact lenses is permitted by the FAA, subject to the same restrictions as glasses (i.e., they must correct your vision to acceptable levels.) I have severe myopia in both eyes (my right eye is legally blind, and the left isn't far behind.) With contacts, my eyes are corrected to about 20/40 and 20/30, well within FAA limits. From a safety standpoint, contacts pose only one problem: what happens if one or both lenses pop out, or must be removed because of irritation? The first and most obvious answer is to put on glasses. Although I carry spare glasses in flight kit for such emergencies, I've never had a problem with eye irritation while flying. After all, flying takes you above most airborne dust, sand, pollen, etc. Hard contacts have several drawbacks over soft lenses. They are more likely to pop out when the eyes become dry, and any debris under the lens is far more painful (I speak from unhappy experience.) Because soft lenses are as large as the iris, there are no problems with night vision. Regards, DJ Molny ihnp4!wnuxa!djmolny
markmo@tekig.UUCP (Mark Morland) (04/30/85)
-------- In article <59@utastro.UUCP> padraig@utastro.UUCP (Padraig Houlahan) writes: >What does the pilot with these lenses (hard contacts) do when making night-time>approaches? > >Padraig Houlahan. I land the airplane! The stray reflections from the edges of my contacts bother me while driving, as oncoming car headlights are bright. Fortunately, the runways we pilots use are lighted with fairly low intensity lights. They are not used to light the pavement, just give a visual reference for the altitude/centerline/ends of the runway. My contacts have never bothered me in flight, I almost always clean them just before I pre-flight the plane. It's better then than after my fingers have traces of gasoline and a coating of 50 weight oil! Yours, Mark Morland - a Private Pilot for 2 1/2 weeks now :-)
dennis@terak.UUCP (Dennis Kodimer) (05/01/85)
I had an experience once in sailplanes which relates to vision and
self-control. I don't wear contacts. One day at the flight line in
a sailplane (I forget the model), I opened the panel air vent while
waiting, after wiggling for the tow to go. This was a dirt strip.
When the tow did finally open full throttle, a blast of dust came
into the cockpit and we were already at 25+ knots. My eyes burned,
I was semi-blinded and speed was increasing rapidly. The answer:
self control *big-time*, as was pointed out. I ignored the pain
and tears and got myself to enough altitude for a go-around landing.
* I think that when your mortal existance is on the line,
* you can easily endure conditions that would be
* excruciating or intolerable at other times.
Knowing this, I think contacts would be a manageable risk factor.
--
Sincerely, *----*
/ / \
Dennis Kodimer / /still waiting for the
*----* electrician or someone
\ \just like him (or her).
\ \ /
*----*
uucp: ...{decvax,hao,ihnp4,seismo}!noao!terak!dennis
phone: 602 998 4800
us mail: Terak Corporation, 14151 N 76th street, Scottsdale, AZ 85260rl@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Robert Langridge%CGL) (05/04/85)
<--- In article <524@terak.UUCP> dennis@terak.UUCP (Dennis Kodimer) writes: >I had an experience once in sailplanes which relates to vision and >self-control. I don't wear contacts. One day at the flight line in >a sailplane (I forget the model), I opened the panel air vent while >waiting, after wiggling for the tow to go. This was a dirt strip. >When the tow did finally open full throttle, a blast of dust came >into the cockpit and we were already at 25+ knots. My eyes burned, >I was semi-blinded and speed was increasing rapidly. The answer: >self control *big-time*, as was pointed out. I ignored the pain >and tears and got myself to enough altitude for a go-around landing. > You don't give your altitude or the length of the strip, but at 25+ kts you could not have been very high or very far down the runway, and a better decision might have been to pull the release, add full spoilers and land straight ahead. Concentrating on a tow and go around with badly impaired vision is likely to be difficult and hazardous. Glad it worked out. Bob Langridge (UUCP: [...]!ucbvax!ucsfcgl!rl) Computer Graphics Laboratory (ARPA: rl@ucbvax 926 Medical Sciences or University of California langridge@sumex-aim) San Francisco CA 94143 (Phone: +1 415 666 2630)