vison Q?

[xchefmike]

I know his may have been posted before, but what is the eyesight requirement? and if you are 20/20 in right and 20/30 left is that a problem with right eye dominant? Our optometrist says that that does not need corrective lenses. is this a DQ or anythng? also is it an easy waiver? and to the future what is the uncorrected vision for flight status? Pilots and NFO's also please comment on the laser surgery that USNA is doing for qualified students.

 

[RetNavyHM]

For Navy, all applicants must be correctable to 20/20 in each eye. The uncorrected distant visual acuity does not matter as long as the applicants are within the refractive error limits.

In your case, as long as the vision corrects to 20/20 in each eye it will not be a problem.

The vision standards for aviation can, and most likely will change in the next 4 years, but currently it is uncorrected distant visual acuity 20/40, but correctable to 20/20 in each eye, with glasses/contacts worn at all times.

As for the refractive surgery, currently only PRK is allowed, no waivers are granted for LASIK. This may change shortly as the AF has been doing studies on LASEK and have just approved it for aviation.

My thoughts, if your son is currently withing vision standards I would not even consider doing any type of vision surgery. Why fix something thats not broken?

 

[USNA69]

From the latest USNA catalog:

All surgical or mechanical procedures (e.g. PRK, LASIK, orthokeratology, intra-corneal ring implants,etc.) performed to correct visual acuity are disqualifying. Requests for waivers are not normally considered. The Naval Academy’s eligibility criteria for refractive surgery are very rigidly limited. Some warfare service selections may not be possible following refractive surgery.

Don't do it. Like Doc says, the rules are changing, but until they do, you are risking flight training.