Foggles

Terry

Terry

Line Up and Wait
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Apr 3, 2005
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Terry
Hi All:

I am considering purchasing a IFR hood and was wanting some opinions.

I wear glasses. Not only that I have my bifocals on the top and bottom with a 14mm space in the middle. (I do a lot of overhead work.)

My first CFII had the "old style" Francis hood that was black and really restricts your vision. It would rub against the side of my glasses and was uncomfortable.

For my private check ride I used a free piece of paper with a elastic band on it. Okay for check ride but not for training.

Have any of you used foggles with regular glasses or glasses with bifocals?

I was looking at the "super hood" in Sporty's and was considering it.

What do you use to maintain currency? I was planning on flying with a safety pilot and not a CFII due to expense.

Your $0.02 appreciated. B)

Thanks;

Terry
 
Terry said:
Hi All:

I am considering purchasing a IFR hood and was wanting some opinions.

I wear glasses. Not only that I have my bifocals on the top and bottom with a 14mm space in the middle. (I do a lot of overhead work.)

My first CFII had the "old style" Francis hood that was black and really restricts your vision. It would rub against the side of my glasses and was uncomfortable.

For my private check ride I used a free piece of paper with a elastic band on it. Okay for check ride but not for training.

Have any of you used foggles with regular glasses or glasses with bifocals?

I was looking at the "super hood" in Sporty's and was considering it.

What do you use to maintain currency? I was planning on flying with a safety pilot and not a CFII due to expense.

Your $0.02 appreciated. B)

Thanks;

Terry
Click to expand...

Foggles are fine with glasses and don't take up much space in the flight bag.
 
I don't know how these will work with glasses (I wear contacts for distant vision, and suffer with old man reading glasses for close work), but I love my JeppShades.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/jeppshades.php

Velcro spandex type band is adjustable and comfortable under the headset, and I love the flip up/flip down design. I put them on prior to startup, and flip them down when necessary to go simulated.

With them up, you do notice the side shields hanging down in your side vision, I feel like the flying nun when they're up.

Since checkride, I've been flying with a safety pilot, and hope to shoot at least 3 approaches every two weeks or so. Even if I practice that often, I plan to do an IPC every six months regardless of currency just to be sure I don't develop nasty habits.
 
I have something called "Overcasters" that clips onto glasses. They work great for me in the daytime where I clip them onto my sunglasses. In the dark I normally use them with reading glasses but they don't fit them well (small lenses) and I have trouble seeing over the reading glasses when I flip the Overcasters up to see the runway. If you always fly with glasses they ought to be fine. A nice feature is that you can slip them into a case made for sunglasses and keep them in your flight bag where they take up little room.

http://www.westerncardinal.com/store/Departments___Other_Stuff___IFR_Hoods___Glasses1676?Args=
 
Terry i have bifocals too , i have used regular foggles and also the over casters, both worked well for me.if your going with foggles i relly like mikes suggestion of custom building them.
Dave G
 
JeppShades or something of similar design are my choice. I particularly like their compactness (don't interfere with safety pilots view of things) and ability to easily flip down/up to simulate cloud entry/exit.
 
I used Foggles. Wore Rx sunglasses with them. very comfy but found I could 'cheat'. Not good. I ended up taking a sharpie type marker and blacking out all of the frosted part of the lenses, and about 60% of the part you look through. That restricted my vision to just the panel and I would have to really stretch in order to cheat.

Mike's idea was pretty good, wish I had thunk of it back then.
 
I did an IR for a guy who had bifocals last year. He used a black shade that cliped onto his glasses. He said they worked great for him.

FYI- Don't cheat while doing your training. It will make you a much better IFR pilot. Take two sheets of paper and cover the windshield on the lower corners to ensure you can't see outside (if your CFII doesn't do it). Yes, thank you Tony Condon!!!
 
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hmmm, where'd you get that trick from? mustve had a great CFII training you when you got your CFII :)
 
Ron Levy said:
JeppShades or something of similar design are my choice. I particularly like their compactness (don't interfere with safety pilots view of things) and ability to easily flip down/up to simulate cloud entry/exit.
Click to expand...

I agree with Ron. I used foggles but did not like them very much. The Jepp shades were very nice, fit over my sun glasses and I like the flip up feature.
 
An issue I have with any sort of "closed" system is that my glasses continually fog up, sometimes at the worst times, and I can't see the instruments. I always explain to the CFII that I may have to have him take the controls due to the fogging, and after every approach I have to remove and wipe them.

Maybe I'm just hot stuff!!:D
 
lancefisher said:
I have something called "Overcasters" that clips onto glasses.
Click to expand...

Ditto, bifocals (progressive lenses), work great. Normal foggles (or even the FAA/STC/PMA do-it-yourself from safety glasses version from Home Depot) over glasses are a pain, plus sun glare off the lenses will drive you nuts.
 
I've just started my inst. rating (2nd lesson) and I received a pair of foggles for Christmas. I used them for the first time yesterday and they are much better than the old ASA hood my Aero club uses. The problem with the foggles I found was that I could cheat a little, espcially when looking up at the compass. I don't want to cheat, but the view outside is distracting. I think Mike has a good idea that I might try. Custom build foggles from safety glasses and leave a small opening lined up with the compass. That way, I won't have to move my head to see the compass. If that doesn't work, I'll take Tony and JRDodge's idea and put paper in the corners:D .
 
I use the Overcasters that Lance mentioned. They weigh almost nothing. Simply clip onto my glasses just like clip on sunglasses. Can flip up if you want to look out. Takes 1 second to go into or out of "IMC". Used them all through training and the checkride. Have used them since for currency, although since I hardly fly anymore currency is a thing of the past.
 
Terry said:
I am considering purchasing a IFR hood and was wanting some opinions.
Click to expand...

Terry,

I think I tried just about everything. I've kind of settled on two: One is the Francis Hood, but the view out of it is too restrictive - I have to move my entire head to check things like radio frequencies and engine gauges. Nothing a Dremel tool won't fix, I just haven't gotten a round tuit yet. :D I'm sure the Francis would be kind of a pain with glasses, though.

My second favorite is the Viban. Like all the other view-limiting devices except the Francis Hood, you can see outside just a bit. However, a post-it note taped on the left-hand side pretty much took care of that for me, and it's nice and comfortable and can't get fogged up on me when my CFII starts to make me sweat. They make a version without the nose piece specifically for use with glasses.

http://www.viban.com/
 
I've used Foggles and Vibans. I like the Vibans better for comfort and blocking the sides and there's no "lens" between me and the panel. I don't wear specs, but the instructions say you can remove the nosepeice for use with glasses.
 
jdwatson said:
I've used Foggles and Vibans. I like the Vibans better for comfort and blocking the sides and there's no "lens" between me and the panel. I don't wear specs, but the instructions say you can remove the nosepeice for use with glasses.
Click to expand...


You can "fix" the "lens" in foggles. Someone on the old AOPA board suggested that you cut out the clear lens part of the foggles. I had an old pair of foggles with the clear lens part scratched that I did my IR training on. I cut that part out of the lenses with a dremel tool, leaving all the fogged part of the foggles. It did away with the parallax that I was getting with that extra "lens" between me and the instruments, without altering the blocking ability of the foggles at all.

I found that I couldn't use the Jepp view limiting device, as it interfered with my glasses and hurt the bridge of my nose. I would like to try the Viban sometime, but have never seen one around the airport to borrow.

Jim G
 
If you chose to use Foggles, make sure the DPE you are using will allow you to wear them. Some DPE's won't allowFoggles on the test because Foggles do allow you to see a little more than just the instruments.
 
flyifrvfr said:
If you chose to use Foggles, make sure the DPE you are using will allow you to wear them. Some DPE's won't allowFoggles on the test because Foggles do allow you to see a little more than just the instruments.
Click to expand...

I know that my DPE falls into this category. She's seen cases where people did fine in training with Foggles, but put them into actual (or even a vision restriction system that's more complete than Foggles) and they had difficulties. Therefore, she makes you use her paper hood if you come with Foggles.
 
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