Sunglasses...trivial?

[khysanth]

/shrug

I refuse to wear sunglasses. There are shades in the plane to block the sun's glare if I need it and I can't stand it when things aren't the proper color.

[Brazilian_Pilot]

I'm not a big fan of sunglasses either. But latelly i have been getting some pretty bad headaches due to glare and constant squinting.

I gotta save some $$$ to get some decent prescription sunglasses.

[khysanth]

I've trained myself not to squint. Basically, I just mostly close my eyes and use my eyelashes to block out any sun. I can still see perfectly fine and I won't have wrinkles/headaches. :P

[Captain_Bob]

Originally Posted by khysanth

I've trained myself not to squint. Basically, I just mostly close my eyes and use my eyelashes to block out any sun. I can still see perfectly fine and I won't have wrinkles/headaches. :P

Ummmkaaayyyy....

David... you are really not doing yourself a favor here. You want all your vision working for you. Look at what you just wrote: "...I just mostly close my eyes..." That would interfere with your peripheral vision as well and limit your overall vision.

You really should read the FAA document I posted earlier... at the very least read the first paragraph:

Sunglasses help safeguard a pilot’s most important sensory asset — vision. A quality pair

of sunglasses is essential in the cockpit environment to optimize visual performance.
Sunglasses reduce the effects of harsh sunlight, decrease eye fatigue, and protect ocular
tissues from exposure to harmful solar radiation. Additionally, they protect the pilot’s
eyes from impact with objects (i.e., flying debris from a bird strike, sudden decompression,
or aerobatic maneuvers).

Full doument here: http://www.faa.gov/pilots/safety/pil...sunglasses.pdf

In other words... to answer mhcasey's original question, (the topic of this forum)...

Sunglasses... Trivial? No...

Good luck, and congrats on your recent solo...

Bob

[Casper]

wow...that is one of the most rediculous things i have ever seen posted on the internet. Thats one of the quickest egos to inflate ever, with only 17 hours.

[SteveC]

From safety.com

Eye Damage and Blindness
UV light can wreak havoc on the tissue of the eye. Prolonged exposure can cause many eye diseases including cataracts. Cataracts cause the lens of the eye to become cloudy, making vision more difficult. As cataracts progress, they can lead to permanent blindness.


Another potential effect of UV radiation is a "burning" of the eye surface. This causes patches of blindness. The effects usually disappear within a couple of days, but may lead to further complications later in life.

[JDE]

Originally Posted by mhcasey

Also, congrats to all of you guys that found good cheap sunglasses. My experience has been more dissapointing in the walmart optical department...

Ditto. The only reason I buy Wal-Mart sunglasses is because I ALWAYS end up breaking my glasses somehow, all the time, it's a trend with me. However, the other day I was flying along with my sunglasses on and noticed that I couldn't see the panel as clear as I though I should be able to. I took off the Wal-Mart cheapies and bam, the panel was "severe clear" so to speak. I could see everything very clearly. I put the sunglasses back on, and things are not nearly as clear, which got me thinking, I probably need to try some better sunglasses and do my best to keep from breaking them. I do have some Maui Jim's somewhere that someone gave to me, I think I'm going to try them out next time I fly.

[Doug Taylor]

I've spent about a month with polarized lenses in the airplane. You can't see certain displays at all with the lenses on and depending on the polarization of the windows, it's difficult to look for traffic:

Without polarized lenses:



WITH polarized lenses:



But they're fantastic for glare.

If you understand the limitations of polarized lenses and how to use them, I think they're more effective than non-polarized lenses.

[ananoman]

I wear perscription glasses and the pair I currently wear came with polarized clip ons. I find that in the piston airplanes that polarized sunglasses work fine, but in turbine equipment with the thick laminated windshields that polarized are not comfortable to wear for the reason Doug indicated.

[jonnyb]

wow...that is one of the most rediculous things i have ever seen posted on the internet. Thats one of the quickest egos to inflate ever, with only 17 hours.

Wow, you must not have read many posts on the internet. Yeah, it doesn't make much sense and I think Bob clarified that.

Thats one of the quickest egos to inflate ever, with only 17 hours

What are you talking about? I didn't get that at all from his post and I can almost guarantee that's not how he meant it.

Sorry, I think I'm just particularly annoyed by your comments most of the time. In fact, I get way more of a "EGO" sense from your posts than just about anyone else. Aren't you a Citation III FO? No offense, that sounds like a nice position and you're probably a sharp pilot, but you often sound like you got it all figured out much of the time. Based on most of the posts I've read from you, you don't. If fact, none of us do. A little humility goes on forever.

SORRY FOR THE HIJACK

[khysanth]

Not wearing sunglasses has nothing to do with my ego. I refuse to wear them ANYWHERE, not just for flying, because I can't stand the way they alter my natural vision.

And if you would be so kind as to not partial quote ... "I can still see perfectly fine..." I believe I know my own vision better than any of you do and am well aware of my own limitations.

You found what works for you - specific sunglasses. They don't work for me. They NEVER have. I know what works for me.

[SteveC]

Originally Posted by khysanth

Not wearing sunglasses has nothing to do with my ego. I refuse to wear them ANYWHERE, not just for flying, because I can't stand the way they alter my natural vision.

And if you would be so kind as to not partial quote ... "I can still see perfectly fine..." I believe I know my own vision better than any of you do and am well aware of my own limitations.

You found what works for you - specific sunglasses. They don't work for me. They NEVER have. I know what works for me.

What about ultraviolet radiation causing long term damage to one's eyes?

[Doug Taylor]

Originally Posted by SteveC

What about ultraviolet radiation causing long term damage to one's eyes?

SteveC, always a post ahead of me.

[Bandit_Driver]

Originally Posted by aloft

Serengeti makes a polarized version of their driver lens. I own a pair, they're great. I only wish they were the gradient lens; although they look super cheesy, they make sense in the cockpit.

Thanks for calling my glasses cheesy...

I think cheesy should be reserved for the guys wearing the mirrored sunglasses and wearing driving gloves to fly. Since when is flying a fasion show. We are all wearing bus driver uniforms.

[Doug Taylor]

People do that? Aroo?!

[Captain_Bob]

Originally Posted by khysanth

...And if you would be so kind as to not partial quote ...

OK David... I'll try again... here goes:

===================begin correction===

Ummmkaaayyyy....

David... you are really not doing yourself a favor here. You want all your vision working for you. Look at what you just wrote:

Originally Posted by khysanth

I've trained myself not to squint. Basically, I just mostly close my eyes and use my eyelashes to block out any sun. I can still see perfectly fine and I won't have wrinkles/headaches. :P

That would interfere with your peripheral vision as well and limit your overall vision.

You really should read the FAA document I posted earlier... at the very least read the first paragraph...

==================== End of correction=====

Didn't mean to offend you by throwing out a partial quote. David... it's a fact... if you partially close your eyes you are going to limit your vision.

Originally Posted by khysanth

I believe I know my own vision better than any of you do and am well aware of my own limitations.

I'm not certain you do. I am certain that you "think" you do... but at only 21 years old and 17 hours TT under your belt... I am certain that you do not know your limitations when it comes to flying and safety issues surrounding flight.

If you have issues with alteration of your natural vision when wearing sunglasses then well... what can I say... Sunglasses by their very nature alter the way we see things. If it's a color alteration issue then Grey or Green lenses would be the way to go as they do not distort color. But if it's something else... you may want to see an opthamologist.

And David... seriously... when you see professional pilots argueing about which sunglasses are the best... there's something to that. They are not argueing about whether or not to wear sunglasses. Please read the FAA document.

Bob

[ColMustard]

Originally Posted by jonnyb

Wow, you must not have read many posts on the internet. Yeah, it doesn't make much sense and I think Bob clarified that.


What are you talking about? I didn't get that at all from his post and I can almost guarantee that's not how he meant it.

Sorry, I think I'm just particularly annoyed by your comments most of the time. In fact, I get way more of a "EGO" sense from your posts than just about anyone else. Aren't you a Citation III FO? No offense, that sounds like a nice position and you're probably a sharp pilot, but you often sound like you got it all figured out much of the time. Based on most of the posts I've read from you, you don't. If fact, none of us do. A little humility goes on forever.

SORRY FOR THE HIJACK

Can we please go one thread without worrying about how things are perceived in posts? Maybe I'm being a hypocrit for posting this, but it seems like there is always a little ego-sensitive bantering back and forth for EVERY issue. Now I've been guilty of this myself, but I'm starting to see what a waste of time it is. I assume the veterans here at JC know what I'm talkin' about.

Maybe just state our opinions and leave it at that. Not "attacking" anyone here, not meaning anything by quoting jonnyb, just seems wasteful. I mean we're talking about sunglasses here for Pete's sake!!

BTW, Capt. Bob, super job on providing all the info. Very helpful stuff!!

-ColM

[Chris_Ford]

Originally Posted by ColMustard

Can we please go one thread without worrying about how things are perceived in posts? Maybe I'm being a hypocrit for posting this, but it seems like there is always a little ego-sensitive bantering back and forth for EVERY issue. Now I've been guilty of this myself, but I'm starting to see what a waste of time it is. I assume the veterans here at JC know what I'm talkin' about.

Maybe just state our opinions and leave it at that. Not "attacking" anyone here, not meaning anything by quoting jonnyb, just seems wasteful. I mean we're talking about sunglasses here for Pete's sake!!

BTW, Capt. Bob, super job on providing all the info. Very helpful stuff!!

-ColM

Hey JERK, why don't you just GO AWAY then. (I'm kidding, of course).

The ego-sensitive arguments are what you're bound to find when you string together a ragtag bunch of type A personalities who all want to be top dog...

[KBUF]

Originally Posted by khysanth

/shrug

I refuse to wear sunglasses. There are shades in the plane to block the sun's glare if I need it and I can't stand it when things aren't the proper color.

Seriously, over time, the sun will probably harm your eyes. If you have issues with discoloration and alteration of you're vision, then maybe consider sunglasses with gray/neutral tint and a nice pair that will not warp your vision. I didn't like wearing sunglasses either for the same reasons, but I wanted to protect my vision, so I did some research on sunglasses. I bought a pair of oakley minutes, and they are great imo...the gray tint causes almost no color distortion and there is absolutley no percievable alteration in vision...except less light reaches your eye, which is the point.

[khysanth]

I've read the document. I understand it is recommended to wear sunglasses, but until there is a law that says pilots must wear them, i'm not going to. I feel more comfortable flying without them.

[ColMustard]

Originally Posted by khysanth

I've read the document. I understand it is recommended to wear sunglasses, but until there is a law that says pilots must wear them, i'm not going to. I feel more comfortable flying without them.

Tell me again why you don't like wearing sunglasses when flying? Whats the problem they bring to your flying ability?

[mhcasey]

Captain Bob...awesome post.

Here's what I've tried to far:

The missing Raybans: Great clarity, but in retrospect they didn't cover my eyes as much as I'd like (which would be resolved with a larger lens obviously). However, I think I'm going to stear clear of getting another pair, because the darned things just don't grip my head very well, which isn't really a problem while wearing a headset...

Bolle Polarized Grey (friend left them at my house): seem to work well in the Cessna 150, but judging from the banding patters I get looking out of my car windows, I'm sure they'd be a problem down the road.

Smith light brown: Fit really well under my headset, and easy to swap out lenses for changing conditions. These are what I normally use for cycling. I'll be using these until I find something better.

Oakley Crosswires, brown: Just bought them from Sunglass Hut (way expensive, so they're either going to way impress me when I fly again on Monday, or they're going to give me a way big refund). I haven't worn these flying yet, but they had a snugger, more comfortable fit than any other pair I've tried. The brown seemed a little light, but they'll be put to the test on Monday. They're really clear lenses. Could be a winner...

Serengeti brown aviators: Dad had an extra pair he's going to let me have when he's in town next week. I'll let you guys know if they are the best.

Remember, I know everything about sunglasses, eyesight, and flying. These are not just my oppinions. If you ignore what I say, you will go blind and never fly again, or you will crash your airplane because you won't be able to see correctly ; )

[Gonzo]

Originally Posted by mhcasey

Oakley Crosswires, brown: Just bought them from Sunglass Hut (way expensive, so they're either going to way impress me when I fly again on Monday, or they're going to give me a way big refund). I haven't worn these flying yet, but they had a snugger, more comfortable fit than any other pair I've tried. The brown seemed a little light, but they'll be put to the test on Monday. They're really clear lenses. Could be a winner...

Those are the glasses I use an absolutely love them. They are worth every penny. They do not distort color which makes it very easy to pick up traffic. The fit also makes it very comfortable while wearing a headset.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by jonnyb

Wow, you must not have read many posts on the internet. Yeah, it doesn't make much sense and I think Bob clarified that.


What are you talking about? I didn't get that at all from his post and I can almost guarantee that's not how he meant it.

Sorry, I think I'm just particularly annoyed by your comments most of the time. In fact, I get way more of a "EGO" sense from your posts than just about anyone else. Aren't you a Citation III FO? No offense, that sounds like a nice position and you're probably a sharp pilot, but you often sound like you got it all figured out much of the time. Based on most of the posts I've read from you, you don't. If fact, none of us do. A little humility goes on forever.

SORRY FOR THE HIJACK

Ok...well i guess ill shut up and just listen from the senior members then.