farsighted pilots, on landing perspective

exncsurfer

exncsurfer

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exncsurfer
Could prescription glasses affect your timing on landings? I'm a student pilot working on landings. I am mildly farsighted, so I don't have to wear glasses for distance, but it does reduce eye strain over time. So, sometimes I wear them sometimes not. I assume the answer here is just to decide, with or without, and stick with it at least till I get more comfortable with my timing.

When I put on my glasses the view gets a bit larger, so, that might make me feel like i'm closer to objects than I am. Also due to a slight astigmatism correction, the view also stretches a bit vertically which makes me feel like i'm higher above the road when driving a car.

Anyone else farsighted have any input on this. Maybe you notice something similar with/without your glasses on?

And before you say it, i know, 'stop trying to blame your crappy landings on your glasses!' Ha.
 
I'm far sighted and definitely don't use glasses for landing...no prescription glasses though, just drugstore readers.

Be consistent when learning to land - either wear the glasses or don't and use whichever condition provides the sharpest view.

...and stop blaming your glasses for your crappy landings...
 
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Oh and by the way, thank you for providing me another way of justifying my crappy landings.
 
Since you're a student, it's likely inconsistent landings have more to do with your experience level than glasses.

With that said, changing your view of the world isn't helping. Wear the glasses or don't wear them but do it the same way all the time. You're learning what the sight picture should look like, trying to judge height, etc. Swapping out your glasses is changing your view and introducing an additional variable that really isn't needed.
 
The best response I can provide is a Pirep of my own experience. I wear progressive lenses with near vision correction at the bottom and far vision correction up top. When I first got them things like stepping off curbs or walking down flights of stairs were a challenge because the downward view was magnified. Lots of guys know what I'm referring to there. When flying I noticed that my peripheral vision was also different and thought the glasses were a problem. With that in mind I had some true bifocals made specifically for flying. While the lateral vision was less impacted than with the progressives I really didn't notice any difference when flying. I strongly believe the initial issue was that my vision sense had been altered just a little and all I needed was to get used to the change. Similarly, some guys will notice a change in their flying when using ANR headsets for the first time. You experience a sensory change and you're distracted by it. The same may happen with corrective lenses. For me it wasn't the ability to focus but a change in general that threw me off. I hope that makes sense.
 
I'm far-sighted with an astigmatism. I fly with perscription glasses for both my sunglasses and non-sun glasses. I keep them on 100% of the time I'm flying.

My landings at first where also very inconsistent, I'd have a tendancy to transition wayy to high. When I finally would hold out longer, i'd pull the yoke back too hard and baloon and cause all kinds of problems. I really wanted to blame my vision for these issues.

I watched countless videos on youtube trying to correct the problem with better technique, even changed instructors thinking I might just need a different person to help me through it. For 2 weeks rather than go out and practice slow flight and manauvers, i sat in the pattern lesson after lesson after lesson just doing touch and goes trying to get the constiency my instructor and myself wanted.

50 landings later I think i understood what I was doing wrong. I'm not sure it really had anything to do with my vision, or glasses or depth perception but more with a tendency I had to fixate too closely to the cowling and fixate on my original target spot. Now as i transition i'm slowly moving my eyes up the runway and my periphial vision is helping me judge distance and altitude. Once I fixed WHERE my eyes where pointing, my landings seemed to have magically gotten better.

The annoying thing is I've heard this from my instructor, I'm not sure why it took me so many attempted landings before it 'clicked', but it did. I was at one point even ready to give up because of discouragement and the feeling of lack of improvement. I kept at it, and just kept practicing.

I will say too: reading the FAA literature for "Airplane Flying Handbook" , chapter 8, seemed to also have a huge impact on my landings. I was able to see myself making the mistakes at landing and understand why the plane was doing what it was doing. You can download this book for free on PDF at: http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aircraft/airplane_handbook/

I attribute that book, a very patient CFI as well as almost obsessive repitition and practice ignoring the feelings of discouragement to finally catching on. After a 2 days of nothing but pattern work and 1 solid and consistent landing after another, my instructor finally felt I was ready for Solo flight and I did it without any issues.

Hope this helps!

-Mark
 
markab said:
...
My landings at first where also very inconsistent...
Hope this helps!

-Mark
Click to expand...


Thanks for the tips Mark, my instructor tells me the same thing about where I'm looking, that is most likely my problem as well. I'll just keep at it till I get it. I've read that chapter many times and I'm sure i'll read it many more.
 
Stewartb said:
The best response I can provide is a Pirep of my own experience. I wear progressive lenses with near vision correction at the bottom and far vision correction up top. When I first got them things like stepping off curbs or walking down flights of stairs were a challenge because the downward view was magnified. Lots of guys know what I'm referring to there. When flying I noticed that my peripheral vision was also different and thought the glasses were a problem. With that in mind I had some true bifocals made specifically for flying. While the lateral vision was less impacted than with the progressives I really didn't notice any difference when flying. I strongly believe the initial issue was that my vision sense had been altered just a little and all I needed was to get used to the change. Similarly, some guys will notice a change in their flying when using ANR headsets for the first time. You experience a sensory change and you're distracted by it. The same may happen with corrective lenses. For me it wasn't the ability to focus but a change in general that threw me off. I hope that makes sense.
Click to expand...

When I first went to bifocals, I went the progressive route. The first couple of days driving I noticed what you described. By the end of the week I went flying and did not notice any issues with my landings. Keep in mind I fly a variety of aircraft and transition from a low sitting position where my eye is less than 30 inches from the ground in a glider to almost 8-9 ft up sitting in a Tow Plane.
 
I just upgraded to progressives for nearsighted vision. First time I wore them was Friday night up doing laps for my night currency. Holy crap my landings were bad. Then again, I haven't flown for two months, so I'm not sure where to lay the blame. Just fly and have fun. As long as you don't need to walk the runway to pick up parts, you are doing okay.

Maybe I have low standards. :/
 
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