Vision waiver for UPT
- Thread starter AHS74
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To obtain a "waiver" to attend UPT if you don't meet one of the requirements, the service has to decide to request the waiver.
I'm not on any board that does this so I can only speak to past experience. That being said, I would doubt that many waivers are granted currently because of the number of slots versus the number of qualified candidates.
HOWEVER...that's not to say that will be the "rule" tomorrow...or the next day/week/month. In my career I've seen the requirements go this way:
1. 20/20 uncorrected, no waivers
2. 20/40 corrected to 20/20
3. 20/100 corrected to 20/20
4. 20/20 uncorrected, no waivers
Timing and "the needs of the AF" are the deciding factor.
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
I'm not on any board that does this so I can only speak to past experience. That being said, I would doubt that many waivers are granted currently because of the number of slots versus the number of qualified candidates.
HOWEVER...that's not to say that will be the "rule" tomorrow...or the next day/week/month. In my career I've seen the requirements go this way:
1. 20/20 uncorrected, no waivers
2. 20/40 corrected to 20/20
3. 20/100 corrected to 20/20
4. 20/20 uncorrected, no waivers
Timing and "the needs of the AF" are the deciding factor.
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
I believe the optometry dept. at the Academy will initiate the waiver. Our son wears contact lenses but his eyesight was not bad enough to qualify for corrective surgery. He graduated this past May and is in the flying portion of UPT now. Did not seem to be an issue at all when he went through.
AHS74...my son '08 grad had quite a bit of experience with the waiver process...he was DQ'd for a non waiverable condition...he ended up getting an "Exception to Policy" and is currently an Air Craft Commander with 2,000+ hours. It can be done with a lot of persistence...I sent him the link to your question...it may take him time to respond as he is currently deployed in Afghanistan.
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Excellent advice!! 
Everything is "possible" until the highest level says "no." Until then...a "yes" is out there somewhere!!
And I'm just a big enough pain in the a** to keep pestering people until I get that answer!
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
Everything is "possible" until the highest level says "no." Until then...a "yes" is out there somewhere!!
And I'm just a big enough pain in the a** to keep pestering people until I get that answer!
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
THat is exactly what my son did...everyone said no but he kept pushing..it ended up going all the way to the Air Force Chief of Staff who must have decided if this kid is going go to all this trouble then we want him flying a plane.He still loves it and sits in the cockpit thinking I'm getting paid to fly airplanes!
CannotBeDisplayed
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Do you think I'd qualify for corrective surgery with a visual acuity of L 20/200 R 20/250?
hornetguy
15-Year Member
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I want to reiterate that you should press the system hard on waivers and be persistent. Adding any leadership contacts to the process will help as well. At USAFA, I had to get a vision waiver for my astigmatism. Thankfully, it's a half page waiver that typically gets rubber stamped.
However, I understand the fears of using medical waivers as a (stupid) method of force shaping. AF medicine screwed the pooch and let both my Cat 1 flight physical expire AND my vision waiver expire. THEN, Laughlin didn't check my records correctly and waited until I started academics to audit and realize they didn't address it when I arrived here four months prior. So, they are trying to scream rush the cat 1 phys and reprocess a new vision waiver. All of that would be sufficient and be done by now without an issue.....but the AF added a new vision test to their repertoire since I was examined last in 2009.
In 2011 they went to a new color test (CCT) on the computer instead of the Ishihara plates. Despite never having any history of color issues, they diagnosed me as green color deficient. How deficient? Passing is 75/100 on the green test, I score 70 on every try. It's a hyper sensitive test and has been identifying a LOT of current and prospective pilots as deficient. People with 0 prior color history. That is not a rubber stamp waiver and requires a higher level of approval. So, here I am, trying to bust out my academics and wondering, gee, will I ever be allowed in the cockpit? Welcome to today's AF. Delightful.
P.S. On the bright side, leadership here is intent on me staying in training and not being DQ or washed back. I'm on the med group Col slides every Monday and apparently I'm on the big wigs staff slides until this is resolved. Some hope I suppose.
However, I understand the fears of using medical waivers as a (stupid) method of force shaping. AF medicine screwed the pooch and let both my Cat 1 flight physical expire AND my vision waiver expire. THEN, Laughlin didn't check my records correctly and waited until I started academics to audit and realize they didn't address it when I arrived here four months prior. So, they are trying to scream rush the cat 1 phys and reprocess a new vision waiver. All of that would be sufficient and be done by now without an issue.....but the AF added a new vision test to their repertoire since I was examined last in 2009.
In 2011 they went to a new color test (CCT) on the computer instead of the Ishihara plates. Despite never having any history of color issues, they diagnosed me as green color deficient. How deficient? Passing is 75/100 on the green test, I score 70 on every try. It's a hyper sensitive test and has been identifying a LOT of current and prospective pilots as deficient. People with 0 prior color history. That is not a rubber stamp waiver and requires a higher level of approval. So, here I am, trying to bust out my academics and wondering, gee, will I ever be allowed in the cockpit? Welcome to today's AF. Delightful.
P.S. On the bright side, leadership here is intent on me staying in training and not being DQ or washed back. I'm on the med group Col slides every Monday and apparently I'm on the big wigs staff slides until this is resolved. Some hope I suppose.