Xcaliber
El Chupacabra
I've got a question about near-vision. For my last several medical exams, I've noticed some AME's seem to have a different idea of what to do and how to check for near vision acuity.
67.103 (b) states "Near vision of 20/40 or better, Snellen equivalent, at 16 inches in each eye separately, with or without corrective lenses."
Seems pretty straight forward, but then there is a question on the 8500-8 which asks "Do you ever use near vision contact lenses while flying?" One AME told me that this means I cannot use any sort of contact in order to meet the near vision requirement. His staff made me take out my contacts to do the test. Luckily, I was able to barely make out the lines and pass without correction, but I know my near vision is slowly getting worse, so I don't think I'll be so lucky in the future. I asked the AME about it, and he said that it's not that big of a deal, i would just need to get myself some reading glasses to pass the test if I couldn't do it without contacts in the future.
Just last week, though, I went to a different AME (I've moved since I went to the AME described above), and although he asked about whether I was wearing contacts (which I was), he didn't say anything else about them, and the vision test a breeze with them in.
So my question is this. What is the purpose of that question about contacts? How could it affect a person like me who uses them for both near and distant vision?
67.103 (b) states "Near vision of 20/40 or better, Snellen equivalent, at 16 inches in each eye separately, with or without corrective lenses."
Seems pretty straight forward, but then there is a question on the 8500-8 which asks "Do you ever use near vision contact lenses while flying?" One AME told me that this means I cannot use any sort of contact in order to meet the near vision requirement. His staff made me take out my contacts to do the test. Luckily, I was able to barely make out the lines and pass without correction, but I know my near vision is slowly getting worse, so I don't think I'll be so lucky in the future. I asked the AME about it, and he said that it's not that big of a deal, i would just need to get myself some reading glasses to pass the test if I couldn't do it without contacts in the future.
Just last week, though, I went to a different AME (I've moved since I went to the AME described above), and although he asked about whether I was wearing contacts (which I was), he didn't say anything else about them, and the vision test a breeze with them in.
So my question is this. What is the purpose of that question about contacts? How could it affect a person like me who uses them for both near and distant vision?
