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If you wear glasses or lenses and hope for a career as an airline pilot, sooner or later someone will tell you it will never happen: pilots supposedly need perfect eyes. That picture is outdated: under the EASA rules, you may meet the visual standards while wearing glasses or contact lenses. What counts is not whether you need correction, but whether your eyes meet the standards with that correction. In this article you can read what the EASA Class 1 medical requires of your eyes, how the eye examination works, what the rules are on laser eye surgery and colour vision, and why you should plan the medical early in your route.
Can you become a pilot with glasses? Yes, in many cases you can simply become a pilot with glasses or contact lenses. The persistent myth that glasses rule you out dates from a time when military selection requirements and civil medical requirements were mixed up. For civil aviation in Europe, the EASA medical system applies, and it sets requirements for your corrected vision: what you see while wearing your glasses or lenses.
There are also limits on how strong that correction may be. If you wear glasses of a common strength, there is a good chance your eyes will not be an obstacle. Only with very strong refractive errors, certain eye conditions or clear problems with colour vision does it become uncertain. How the full medical works, from the eye examination to heart and hearing, is explained in the article on the pilot medical .
Pilot eye requirements: what the EASA Class 1 medical asks To fly professionally you need a Class 1 medical, the strictest medical class. The first issue takes place at an approved aeromedical centre. For the eyes, the following standards apply, summarised as a guide: Item Indicative standard (initial Class 1 examination) Notes Corrected distance visual acuity Usually at least 0.7 per eye and 1.0 with both eyes together Measured wearing glasses or lenses Refraction (strength) Indicatively between about +5 and -6 dioptres Spherical equivalent; values outside this require extra assessment Astigmatism Indicatively up to about 2 dioptres Cylinder error Anisometropia Indicatively up to about 2 dioptres Difference in strength between the two eyes Colour vision Able to distinguish colours safely Ishihara test, additional tests if in doubt Eye pressure and eye health Within normal limits Screening for glaucoma, among other things These values are indicative; the exact and current standards are in the EASA regulations (Part-MED) and are assessed individually by the aeromedical centre. If you are on or just over a limit, that does not automatically mean a fail.
Often an additional examination by an ophthalmologist follows, after which approval may still be possible. The AME or the examination centre assesses your individual situation. What the eye examination for Class 1 includes The eye examination at the initial Class 1 medical is more extensive than a visit to the optician. You can expect the following parts: Distance and near visual acuity : how sharply you see, without and with correction, per eye and with both eyes together.
Refraction : the objective measurement of your eye strength, to check whether you are within the limits. Colour vision : as standard with the Ishihara plates; if the result is abnormal, there are alternative tests. Depth perception : the ability to judge distance and depth, relevant for landing and taxiing, among other things. Eye pressure : a check that screens for glaucoma, among other things.
General eye examination : the ophthalmologist or aeromedical examiner looks at the health of the eye itself, from cornea to retina. Tip: bring your current glasses prescription, any old measurements and your contact lens details to the examination. That saves time and gives the aeromedical examiner direct insight into how stable your prescription is. If you are assessed as fit while needing correction, your medical will carry an annotation that you must wear your glasses or lenses while flying.
In practice this also means you must have a spare pair of glasses within reach in the cockpit. Laser eye surgery for pilots: is it allowed? Laser eye surgery and a career as an airline pilot are not mutually exclusive. Refractive surgery such as LASIK or PRK is in principle compatible with a Class 1 medical under the EASA system, but conditions apply.
Your refraction must be stable after the procedure (less than 0.75 dioptres of variation during the day), the eye examination must show no post-operative complications, your glare sensitivity must be within normal standards, your contrast sensitivity in low light must not be impaired, and an eye specialist must evaluate your eyes. Before laser treatment with a view to your flying career, an AME or aeromedical centre can tell you which requirements apply at that time and which documentation you need from the eye clinic. A successful laser treatment does not guarantee approval, but with a well documented and stable result a previous procedure need not be an obstacle. Colour blindness and becoming a pilot Colour vision deserves its own discussion, because this is where the biggest misunderstandings exist.
Colour blindness comes in degrees: from a mild red-green weakness to an almost complete absence of colour discrimination. The standard test at the medical is the Ishihara test with coloured plates. If you complete it without errors, you are done with this part. If you do not pass the Ishihara test, that is not immediately the end.
There are additional tests, such as the CAD test (Colour Assessment and Diagnosis) or an anomaloscope, which measure more precisely how large the deficiency is. If you are assessed as safe on these, you can still be approved. At the same time, honesty is called for here: a pronounced colour vision deficiency is, as a rule, not compatible with a Class 1 medical, because safely distinguishing lights, displays and signals is essential in the cockpit. If you are unsure about your colour vision, get tested early at an aeromedical centre before taking further steps.
Take the Class 1 medical before you spend large sums A full airline pilot training course can easily cost a six-figure sum, depending on the school and route. It would be a waste to commit thousands of euros to selection training, deposits or financing first and only then discover that you cannot pass the medical. So plan the initial Class 1 medical early in your research, especially if you wear glasses, have had laser surgery or are unsure about your colour vision. The cost of an initial Class 1 medical is small compared with the total training costs, and it gives you certainty about the medical foundation of your plans.
An overview of all cost items in the route is in the article on what pilot training costs . Eyes approved? Then selection awaits Once you have your Class 1 medical, the medical hurdle is cleared and the focus shifts to the next one: selection by the flight school or airline. Think of aptitude tests, mathematics and physics, and an assessment with interviews.
What that process looks like is explained in the step-by-step guide to becoming a pilot and in the overview of pilot selections and assessments . Unlike the eye examination, you do have direct influence on the selection: if you practise in a targeted way, you go into the assessment better prepared. That way, a lack of preparation is not what limits how far you get.
