Pilots are regularly permitted to wear glasses or contact lenses while performing their duties, directly contradicting the common belief that perfect uncorrected vision is a prerequisite for flying. The use of corrective lenses is fully integrated into modern aviation, with the understanding that sharp visual acuity is a safety requirement, regardless of how it is achieved. This practice is entirely managed by strict, government-mandated medical standards that govern a pilot’s physical fitness to fly. These regulations ensure that all pilots, whether civilian or military, can consistently meet the high visual performance standards necessary for safely operating an aircraft.
Required Vision Acuity Standards
A pilot’s visual performance is regularly assessed to ensure compliance with the standards set by regulatory bodies like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). For commercial airline pilots holding a First-Class medical certificate, the requirement is to achieve distant visual acuity of 20/20 or better in each eye separately, with or without correction. This standard prioritizes the pilot’s ability to clearly see distant traffic and navigation points.
Beyond distant vision, pilots are also tested on their ability to see clearly at intermediate and near ranges, which are necessary for scanning instruments and reading charts. The near vision standard is typically 20/40 or better at 16 inches, which is the approximate distance to the control yoke or flight management system. Pilots aged 50 and older seeking a First-Class certificate must also meet an intermediate visual standard of 20/40 at 32 inches, accounting for the natural aging of the eye’s focusing mechanism.
Color perception is a mandatory component of the medical examination, as pilots must accurately distinguish between navigation lights, runway signals, and color-coded instrument displays. While perfect color vision is preferred, a pilot with a mild deficiency may still be certified if they can pass a specialized test demonstrating their ability to perceive aviation-relevant colors. The medical examination also evaluates normal fields of vision and proper binocular function to ensure adequate depth perception and peripheral awareness.
Acceptable Corrective Measures and Practical Use
When a pilot’s vision is corrected by lenses, the medical certificate is issued with a specific limitation, such as “must wear corrective lenses,” making the use of glasses or contacts mandatory during all flight operations. Pilots who rely on corrective lenses must carry a spare pair of glasses in the cockpit during every flight. This addresses the risk of the primary correction method being lost, damaged, or dislodged, such as a contact lens drying out in the low-humidity cabin environment.
While most types of lenses are acceptable, certain restrictions exist based on their potential to interfere with cockpit instruments. For example, polarized lenses are strongly discouraged or prohibited because the polarization can interact with the glare-reducing coatings on windscreens and the liquid crystal displays (LCDs) of modern flight decks, potentially causing visual blackouts. Monovision correction, where one eye is corrected for distance and the other for near, is not permitted for flying duties due to its potential to impair depth perception and binocular function.
Corrective eye surgery procedures, such as LASIK and Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK), are generally accepted by aviation regulatory bodies. Following surgery, a pilot must wait a mandatory period to ensure vision stabilization and complete healing before resuming flight duties. For LASIK, this period can be as short as two weeks, while PRK often requires approximately twelve weeks due to the nature of the healing process. The pilot must then provide a report from an eye specialist confirming the absence of post-operative complications (like night glare or halos) and that the corrected vision meets the required standards.
Civilian Versus Military Vision Requirements
The vision standards for civilian aviation, which prioritize a pilot’s ability to achieve corrected 20/20 visual acuity, differ notably from the initial entry requirements for military pilots, particularly those in high-performance roles. Civilian standards are highly accommodating to corrective measures, accepting applicants whose natural eyesight is poor as long as it corrects to the required standard. This approach makes a career in commercial aviation accessible to a broader pool of candidates.
In contrast, military aviation, especially for fighter and fast-jet pilots, traditionally imposes a much stricter uncorrected vision standard for initial entry into flight training. For instance, a candidate for the United States Air Force may need uncorrected distant vision no worse than 20/70, correctable to 20/20, along with a high standard of uncorrected near vision. This stricter baseline ensures a pilot retains functional sight in stressful or combat environments where glasses or contacts could be lost or compromised. Although corrective surgery is now widely accepted by military branches, it often requires a formal waiver and extensive post-operative evaluation before a candidate is cleared for flight training.