[NROTC] Is Spherical Equivalent used to determine eligibility for aviation?

[pixeleater]

I was browsing airwarriors.com and read this post: https://www.airwarriors.com/communi...t-all-things-vision-related.8968/post-1103100
and it has gotten me worried about my eligibility for aviation in NROTC.

Is spherical equivalent used to determine if your eye sight is good enough for pilot or nfo? My eyesight is -8.25 with a cylinder of +1.50 and according to the information in that post, anything higher than -8.00 is disqualifying. The good news for me is that with spherical equivalent I am actually -6.75 which is well under the -8.00 limit. I know I will need to get LASIK but I also know that having a pre-op of over -8.00 is disqualifying.

The post also quotes from two sources which are confusing.

This source: https://www.med.navy.mil/Portals/62/Documents/NMFSC/NMOTC/NAMI/ARWG/Waiver Guide/01_Physical_Standards_210128.pdf?ver=220zgsVdM5ZT2VR9llBScA== claims that
"Refractive Limits: Manifest refraction must not exceed +/-8.00 diopters in any meridian (sum of sphere and cylinder) with astigmatism no greater than -3.00 diopters. Refraction must be recorded in minus cylinder format."

This source: https://www.sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/rotc/navy/media/prk_nami_reqs.pdf claims that the rule is +3.00 to -8.00 SE.

I am assuming these sources are for OCS applicants but I wouldn't be surprised if the standards are the same for everyone regardless of commissioning source.

Can anyone with more knowledge than me give me the good or bad news? Thanks!

 

[baes]

I’m pretty sure if your vision is no worse than 20/70 and both eyes are correctable to 20/20 you’ll be able to become a pilot. (take this with a grain of salt because I’m only a candidate)

 

[pixeleater]

I’m pretty sure if your vision is no worse than 20/70 and both eyes are correctable to 20/20 you’ll be able to become a pilot. (take this with a grain of salt because I’m only a candidate)

That's what I thought too but apparently there are refractive limits and if you're over the those limits it's disqualifying.

 

[GoCubbies]

I was browsing airwarriors.com and read this post: https://www.airwarriors.com/communi...t-all-things-vision-related.8968/post-1103100
and it has gotten me worried about my eligibility for aviation in NROTC.

Is spherical equivalent used to determine if your eye sight is good enough for pilot or nfo? My eyesight is -8.25 with a cylinder of +1.50 and according to the information in that post, anything higher than -8.00 is disqualifying. The good news for me is that with spherical equivalent I am actually -6.75 which is well under the -8.00 limit. I know I will need to get LASIK but I also know that having a pre-op of over -8.00 is disqualifying.

The post also quotes from two sources which are confusing.

This source: https://www.med.navy.mil/Portals/62/Documents/NMFSC/NMOTC/NAMI/ARWG/Waiver Guide/01_Physical_Standards_210128.pdf?ver=220zgsVdM5ZT2VR9llBScA== claims that
"Refractive Limits: Manifest refraction must not exceed +/-8.00 diopters in any meridian (sum of sphere and cylinder) with astigmatism no greater than -3.00 diopters. Refraction must be recorded in minus cylinder format."

This source: https://www.sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/rotc/navy/media/prk_nami_reqs.pdf claims that the rule is +3.00 to -8.00 SE.

I am assuming these sources are for OCS applicants but I wouldn't be surprised if the standards are the same for everyone regardless of commissioning source.

Can anyone with more knowledge than me give me the good or bad news? Thanks!

I'm assuming you want to be Maverick (naval aviator) and not Goose (naval flight officer). There are different accessions standards for SNA and SNFOs.

For distant visual acuity, you have to be no worse than 20/40 uncorrected. You need to be 20/20 corrected.

Near visual acuity is the same as that of DVA.

For refraction, your sphere cannot be worse than +3.00D or -1.50D. Your cylinder (astigmatism) cannot be worse than +/- 1.0D. The refraction for SNAs is cycloplegic.

As an aside, for SNFOs, the standard is no worse than +/- 8.0D for sphere and no worse than +/- 3.0D for cylinders.