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Avionics Safety

Eye Care For Pilots: Frequent Exams Are Key

Larry Anglisano
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Edited By:

Larry Anglisano

When was the last time you saddled up to a Phoropter? If you're like a lot of pilots, perhaps not as recently as you should have. The gold standard for undergoing a thorough eye examination is six months. On The Cover: A pilot is doing something that more of us need to do on a regular basis and that's undergoing a thorough eye exam - a real eye exam. As we age, we know that eyesight deteriorates, buy many don't know about all of the issues that cause the deterioration that's crucial to safe aircraft operation. The good news is that eye health testing has never been better, and there are things pilots can do to keep seeing clearly. We talked with a respected eye doc who is also a pilot for the report starting on page 16.

Here’s an unfortunate scenario. You’re sliding down a visual approach at dusk with the speed nailed, the wind calm and bright LEDs lighting up the pavement. You settle into the flare and hit hard enough to bounce back in the air where the oscillations begin. Despite your thousands of flight hours, your insurer isn’t impressed with the resulting crunch of the propeller and broken landing gear.

When was the last time you had your eyes checked—beyond testing your memory of the eye chart? For a lot of us, the limitation on the back of the medical certificate saying to wear corrective lenses is also a reminder to keep tabs on eye health. We admit to falling behind, too. Worse is that plain-vanilla FAA medical exams might give a false sense of security when it comes to the real health of aging eyes. 

Larry Anglisano

Editor in Chief Larry Anglisano has been a staple at Aviation Consumer since 1995. An active land, sea and glider pilot, Larry has over 30 years’ experience as an avionics repairman and flight test pilot. He’s the editorial director overseeing sister publications Aviation Safety magazine, IFR magazine and is a regular contributor to KITPLANES magazine with his Avionics Bootcamp column.