masks and glasses

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RRAT

RRAT

Filing Flight Plan
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Feb 4, 2020
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ercoupe 1
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kpwt Bremerton Wa
I have to wear glasses while flying. And I would like to wear a mask out of respect for my instructor crammed in next to me. But the mask makes my glasses fog. How are people dealing with this?
 
Get a N95 and make sure it’s form fitted , you have to try a few.

Your read backs will be muffled unless you are yelling, even then some, if the mask is actually form fitted. It’s a major PITA, but can be done.
 
Maybe your optometrist can get you some antifog lenses. If not, contact lenses or LASIK would solve the problem. Wearing a mask just over your mouth and breathing through your mouth instead of your nose could also do the trick. The suggestion to try different masks is also a good one.
 
Procedure / surgical mask correct? We have a couple types at work and one will fog my visor while the other doesn’t. One is thicker material, almost like a wax coating and the nose bridge wire isn’t as tight. It pushes some of the exhale up through the nose bridge area. The other mask seems like thinner material, nose bridge wire seals far better and won’t fog. I’ll see if I can get brand names tomorrow when I go back to work.
 
I’d wear three masks. Buy an Oxygen system and require that both pilots buy and wear masks with microphones installed, or get an STC for two relief tubes and use them to exhale. I’m not sure which would be cheaper… This should eliminate your fogging problem. Wear two layers of latex gloves, tyvek overalls with hoods and booties and tape all openings shut.








Or, you could find a cfi who doesn’t drink coolaid and just go fly.
 
Figured I’d take a shot at answering the question rather than criticizing it.

The trick I’ve found is to make sure the mask is high enough that the top of it actually overlaps with the bottom of the glasses, and then make the wire as tight as possible. This means that any breath that gets out will vent upward and generally exit above the glasses without fogging them. It can take some trial and error to get right, the good news is that the airflow in the cockpit and the cool, dry air this time of year should help prevent fogging as well.
 
Put the bottom part of the glasses over your mask. It won’t fog up. I think stores sell anti fog spray too but that’s unnecessary.
 
Hold the metal nose piece in the mask snug against the bridge of your nose while simultaneously thrusting your chin down. This creates a little pocket so that your breath doesn''t go out the top. Then, put your glasses on so that the bridge pads of the glasses are below the metal nose piece of the mask.

I wore a surgical (or sometimes N95) mask regularly as part of my job for years. And, on the occasions this didn't seem to help (heavy work wearing leaded aprons and surgical gowns), I'd add a piece of tape over the nose piece of the mask as a last resort.
 
Dry Creek said:
Or, just ignoring the hype and not wearing a mask if both in the cockpit are good with it.
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eman1200 said:
this is the way.
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eman1200 said:
trust me, people care much less about what you think than you think they do.
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eman1200 said:
for those of you doing your best to derail the thread, this isn't a debate on (mask) or not, whether you agree or not, it's very simple..........for those who DO... so why don't you go start your own thread on why you think your opinion matters one bit on whether people should... or not... really, buzz off so we can go back to the pleasant conversation we were having.
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Preacher, amen thy self.
 
Half fast is right. The occupant of my other seat has to be fully vax’d, and if he’s had COVID has to have one fax >6 mos out.

I engaged a DPE for an IPC and offered him a rapid and he agreed.

Welcome to my bubble.
 
Ask your instructor what their preference is regarding masks. If I were your instructor I wouldn’t care. Yours might not either. Also masks in the cockpit blow ass. Even the most conservative among my peers at work lose the mask after the door closes. You will see oxygen mask use if someone farts but otherwise no face coverings. Just to hard to communicate.
 
RRAT said:
But the mask makes my glasses fog. How are people dealing with this?
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Hi.
You may be able to use some shaving cream and wipe it, or saliva used on snorkeling glasses other substances may help, but contacts and or tight around the nose may work best.
 
rk911 said:
what's your instructor say about this?
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My instructor is fine with no mask. But the DPE implied he would prefer I wore one for my PPL checkride.
 
This may seem a little over the top but it worked for me. My eye doctor was checking vision and I kept fogging up the corrective lens tool they use. She put a piece of tape over the bridge of my nose. It stopped/prevented my exhale from fogging the instrument.
 
Surgical tape along the top of the mask will help, but it's still uncomfortable and not always effective. Contacts are the way to go if you can tolerate them. That's what I'm doing for sports when masking is required. Hopefully, the need for this will someday pass.
 
If your glasses fog while you’re wearing a mask, you’re breathing around it rather than through it. If your goal is to filter the air and droplets going in and out of you, a mask that fogs your glasses isn’t doing what you want. If you want a mask to filter, you’ll have to wear an N95. If you want to know that it’s working, you’ll have to be fit tested. If you have a beard, you’ll have to shave it.

But if you want to wear a mask because someone else wants you to, and you have to do what they want in order to get what you want, tape the top of the mask to your nose.
 
RRAT said:
I have to wear glasses while flying. And I would like to wear a mask out of respect for my instructor crammed in next to me. But the mask makes my glasses fog. How are people dealing with this?
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I am not sure if being maskless in the cockpit is particularly hazardous. My unscientific theory is that grocery stores, restaurants, etc.. are worse than a GA cockpit for spreading airborne germs. The cockpit has plenty of airflow. The pilot and co-pilot are both facing forward, not at each other. Wiping down the yoke and throttle might be a wise thing to do. My concern would be if the discomfort of a mask and the muffled speech might have some impact on learning.

During the height of covid, I would ask the student about their risk factors before agreeing to fly with them. I turned down a nurse who worked in the infectious desease ward. Most people I flew with were known to me as cautious people who didn't go to crowded restaurants or concerts. We flew without masks even before vaccines were introduced.
 
You are probably more likely to die in a small aircraft crash than from a covid infection. Probably shouldn't learn to fly, just take up something safe, like hiding in the basement until all the cooties go away.
 
do we have to turn this into mask vs no mask debate? its a simple question OP asked and I think he has gotten some good ideas on what HE thinks HE should DO while acting as PIC.

jeez
 
So far, we’ve been advised to get the vaccine because everyone else is. Shave cream and saliva to seal the mask. Contact lenses. Special(and doubtless) expensive anti-fog glasses or goggles. Surgical masks. The vaccine and countless boosters. And my favorite, tape the mask to the bridge of your nose.

in my original post I parodied the many and (even more) over the top suggestions to the original post. Please forgive me. At times, my sense of humor is positively arid.

the real point here, I think, is that if the OP or any one else is so concerned about catching Covid, then I must agree with wagon driver and salty. Stay home, or fly solo. You’re not focused on flying the airplane. You’re handicapping yourself with uncomfortable physically confining remedies that can also affect your basic ability to communicate with others, in your plane, and with other aircraft and/or ATC.

flying airplanes is not particularly hard, unless we go out of our way to make it so. If we go “over the top” as yet another respondent suggested, then it can become a safety of flight issue.

KISS is a philosophy to live by.
 
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orca64 said:
So far, we’ve been advised to get the vaccine because everyone else is. Shave cream and saliva to seal the mask. Contact lenses. Special(and doubtless) expensive anti-fog glasses or goggles. Surgical masks. The vaccine and countless boosters. And my favorite, tape the mask to the bridge of your nose.

in my original post I parodied the many and (even more) over the top suggestions to the original post. Please forgive me. At times, my sense of humor is positively arid.

the real point here, I think, is that if the OP or any one else is so concerned about catching Covid, then I must agree with wagon driver and salty. Stay home, or fly solo. You’re not focused on flying the airplane. You’re handicapping yourself with uncomfortable physically confining remedies that can also affect your basic ability to communicate with others, in your plane, and with other aircraft and/or ATC.

flying airplanes is not particularly hard, unless we go out of our way to make it so. If we go “over the top” as yet another respondent suggested, then it can become a safety of flight issue.

KISS is a philosophy to live by.
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I have never, ever, not ONCE, launched an airplane with the intent to crash. I wear my seatbelt EVERY TIME I start the engine, even if I’m just taxiing between flights and not leaving the ground. Why? Because “ya just never know…” and my will to live is stronger than my willful ignorance. ;)

There are plenty of things to distract a student pilot during training, and every good instructor introduces those distractions with glee. A mask has got to be to pretty far down the list of dangerous distractions. I mean, shoot- some pilots fly with foggygoggles ON PURPOSE! Oh, the horror. (I fear for our future. May XXX have mercy on our souls.)

CHEERS! Beer for everybody. (Pull your chin warmer down first, you half-witted merrymakers.) :)

Can we get back to inane arguments now, please?
 
Oh boy. Not gonna criticize and have no suggestions to the OP. The glasses could be sunglasses which would make contacts tough. He wants to wear a mask as a courtesy to his instructor. Seems sensible. Not my cup of tea, unless my instructor sitting next to me is wearing one. I got a shot to not wear a mask. People still get it masked and vax'd. If you feel more comfortable wearing a mask by all means do what makes you and the person you're rubbing shoulders with more comfortable.
 
Thank you to the guys who worry about transmission to your CFI and want to wear a mask.
 
It's winter... Pre-warm the cabin (if you can). Once your glasses warm up too, all will be well.
 
Clip4 said:
Thank you to the guys who worry about transmission to your CFI and want to wear a mask.
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Exactly.

I think we tend to think of ourselves as either immune to the risk or find the risk inconsequential. And it often is.

But this just posted to Facebook:


Jeffrey Whitaker

In memory of my friend and member of The Aviator's Lounge, Jeffrey Whitaker. We lost a great one on Nov.19 due to Covid. Kind, compassionate, great sense of humor, and a shared love of God, America, and anything to do with aviation and aerospace. Rest in peace, Jeff. I will miss you and our conversations dearly.

We are not immune, and the risk is real, whether in or out of the cockpit.
 
Risk is real. We’re all going to die. Some can’t seem to accept that. Living is a risky proposition. Generally speaking the more you live the riskier it is.
 
AKBill said:
This may seem a little over the top but it worked for me. My eye doctor was checking vision and I kept fogging up the corrective lens tool they use. She put a piece of tape over the bridge of my nose. It stopped/prevented my exhale from fogging the instrument.
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Yup I was at the eye doc last Thursday and she did the same thing.
 
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