Eye Protection

[Garthy B]

Had a beautiful mornings flying, with blue skies and a bright warm sun in the sky, yesterday. However, as the day progressed it became harder to concentrate on flying as my eyes started to sting and water. This later manifested itself into a migrane level headache and sore eyes(back of the eye sore.)

I do fly with sunglasses, and with ESS safety glasses with a smoke lense.

 

The reason for this thread is, what sunglasses are very good for flying with? A price selection; Value £5-£30, Mid £35-£100 and High £100 + might also be invaluable to others.

 

I'm sure it's been discussed before, but with the possibility of a bright summer of flying, I think this may be relevant now.

 

Your thoughts, Gents and Ladies?

[Tim Mackey]

Yeh been discussed at length - I will dig out the thread and post back.

[Tim Mackey]

Heres one

[Tim Mackey]

And another collection - the search tool works quite well on this forum now

[Marko]

Hi garthy l have a wide brimmed hat and sunnies when lm flying if the hat can cast a shadow over your eyes you will be fine as squinting gives you a headache Cheers........... mark ps can you not fly with the sun behind you

[Garthy B]

Cheers Timbo for the links....had an idea this may have been an issue before!

 

Mark, this is a problem with the sun behind me! As the day goes on though it becomes more of a side sun. I fly on an airfield and we tend to go up and down, regardless of wind direction. You do your best to avoid looking at the sun but at certain times it can't be helped.

Poor weather can't win........overcast, windy and rain or clear skies, no wind and piercing sunshine!

It doesn't help having fair hair and blue eyes, I'm just designed to be photosensitive I suppose. 

 

[Lee Smalley]

whinge whinge, whinge 

 

 

lol i have same problem must get some proper specs mine just dont cut it !!

[Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage]

We are very lucky because except for about 10 o'clock in the morning, the sun is behind us, still use my prescription sunglasses and an ENGLAND! hat :P

 

I do think the price of some of these sunglasses are ridiculous

 

Peter 

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

Work had to buy us safety glasses for use outdoors. They came up with these, I find them superb for flying   Peltor glasses  and checkout the price!  I'm not sure how easy it is to buy from RS though, but there must be other suppliers.

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

A factor often overlooked here is UV exposure. Folks think that if they get "dark sunglasses" and hence cut down the light intensity and the squinting that's fine. But these glasses often do not cut down on the UV that you can't see but is potentially highly damaging to your eyes. It also doesn't depend as much as you might think on the direction of the sun - the whole sky emits at least some UV on a sunny day as the air scatters it.

 

My advice is always check the UV factor on the glasses if they are for flying. Personally I use UV400 glasses which offer good protection. Though I believe that you can get 800 and even higher now.

 

BEB

[Barrie Dav 2]

One danger  with not using sunglasses with good uv protection is Macular Degeneration. This condition causes loss of central vision, leaving only peripheral vision and is mainly a problem with people over 50 or so. Which will leave people unable to read or watch tv for example.  And certainly not able to fly our toys.

 

Age related macular degeneration affects, I understand, about 25% of the older population but uv can cause damage too.

 

The uv damages the macular which is a very tiny point at the back of the eye and is used for central focus.  There are two types 'Wet' (where there is bleeding causing the damage) and 'Dry' where the cells are also destroyed.

 

There is no real cure for this condition at the moment although it was announced earlier this year that a new treatment was being developed  -  for, I believe, the 'Wet' type of degeneration.

 

'Google'  MD for a fuller explanation.

 

Take care with uv.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Barrie Dav 2]

Yes.  Quite right Eric.