fear of prescription glasses

Peter Ha

Peter Ha

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Nov 18, 2019
Messages
226
Display Name
Display name:
Leadpan
Hey folks,
I have this re-occurring nightmare/fear of my glasses falling out the windows during flight; thereby dying in a crash. :eek:
Have you ever hear this happening to someone?
Thinking of carrying extra pair in glove compartment.
Am I the only one with this irrational fear?
 
I have never heard of this occurring to anyone outside of a dream. You're probably not the only one that has that fear, but you're probably on a short list... ;)

If it makes you feel better throw an extra pair of glasses into your flight bag and/or strap on a pair of croakies...
 
Peter Ha said:
glasses falling out the windows during flight?
Click to expand...

I have seen glasses fly off somebody in a roller coaster.

So I'd guess it could happen in an airplane with an open cockpit, with a couple of g's.
 
If it's turbulent enough to toss eyeglasses off your face and out the window, you got bigger problems!

I've never had mine fly off my head in 57 years of various activities. If you are really paranoid, put on some Croakies.
 
Last edited:
I carry an extra pair of contacts and an old pair of glasses in my flight bag just in case.

Redundancy!
 
I’m not sure if it is club rules, or actually a requirement from my med that I have to have an extra pair. I buy cheap reading glasses, and they definitely can suddenly fall apart, usually the stems break off. Or the screw backs out holding them.
Maybe it’s unlikely that they fly out the window, but you can have them break, or the glass fall out, or lose them under the seat, etc.
having an extra pair in the flight bag just seems prudent.
 
They take a couple of weeks before they don’t irritate you anymore, but look at “cable temple” frames. They have loops that go behind the ear, so glasses never fall off.

and I also carry my old glasses in my flight bag.
 
I carry a spare pair, plus my vision isn't so bad that I couldn't land without them (though I might need to use IFR nav to find the field). When my wife got her medical the first time, the doctor said normally they suggest pilots take a second pair with them. He told her to carry two pairs. She got lasik a bit later (she finally understands the point of having the clock that projects the time on the ceiling).
 
I keep my last pair of glasses, and carry them as backups. The prescription is off a little, but it would be fine in an emergency, and 100% better than no glasses at all.
 
put 'em on a lanyard around your neck. I've never had that fear and have been wearing glasses for over 50 years.
 
I have lost three pairs of glasses through misfortune (a Jet-Ski accident, an assault and battery, and a motorcycle oopsie.) None have occurred in the last 20 years, and no issues flying with the windows open. They just don't move much. For the Jet-Ski accident I had a strong, wide strap on them, but it turns out that that is useless whilst tumbling across the surface of the water at 50+ kts. (Highly modified 'ski.)
 
Peter Ha said:
Hey folks,
I have this re-occurring nightmare/fear of my glasses falling out the windows during flight; thereby dying in a crash. :eek:
Have you ever hear this happening to someone?
Thinking of carrying extra pair in glove compartment.
Am I the only one with this irrational fear?
Click to expand...

upload_2020-4-30_5-53-8.jpeg
 
I carry an old set in my flight bag. I also practiced landing without them with a CFI in the right seat. In my case I can land fine without glasses even though I'm required to have them to drive or fly.
 
I used to have extra glasses (previous prescriptions) all over the place because I would have had a hard time walking with out them. (Cataract surgery fixed that.) No reason to not carry a spare pair in your flight bag if you would have trouble finding the airport without them. But - a bit of yarn tied to the ear pieces can keep them attached under pretty wild circumstances - I used to be the bowman on a sailboat and never lost a pair there.
 
I'm 20/400 in one eye and 20/600 in the other without correction, so I carry a spare pair of contacts in the aircraft, and glasses if I am traveling over night - but I have never needed them.

At 55 I also need progressive readers, so I carry my prescription photogray lens readers in my pocket. However, I usually wear sunglasses with a +1.5 reader in the lower part of the lens. The sunglasses let me see everything clearly, and I passed the eye test at my last physical using non prescription readers. Either way, one is backup for the other.
 
I lost my glasses at Oshkosh one year. Don't know how, I just found they weren't on my face at one point. Thankfully I had brought a spare set with me, more or less by accident. I normally don't fly with a spare set, or at least I didn't. Now I keep spare on hand all the time.
 
I keep a spare pair, I think, somewhere in the bottom of my headset bag.

But when I fly during the day I wear my prescription sunglasses clamped on with my DCs, and my regular glasses are in my headset bag. And I keep the window closed.
 
Yes, it can happen. I lost my sunglasses out the window of a C-150 when I went to spit my gum out the window during my long Private cross country. The rest of the 100 mile flight into the setting sun wasn't enjoyable!

If your you really need them, carry a spare pair.
 
Another vote for "just carry a spare pair" even if it's the ones with your last prescription or whatever. I would need them to navigate and land safely.

I had one pair that had a lens pop out in "just walking along" (nowhere near an airplane). Why set yourself up for a freak occurence like that creating a difficult situation in the air, or endure any anxiety about the possibility when it's so easily avoided? And in perhaps more likely scenarios like someone sitting on them while you're eating your $100 burger, you have a spare pair to get home with.
 
It seems unlikely that your glasses could fall off while being clamped by your headset. Nevertheless, having a spare in your flight bag is a good idea, and is required if you ever fly outside the US. I wear contacts, but carry glasses in my bag as a backup.
 
Dana said:
Yes, it can happen. I lost my sunglasses out the window of a C-150 when I went to spit my gum out the window during my long Private cross country. The rest of the 100 mile flight into the setting sun wasn't enjoyable!

If your you really need them, carry a spare pair.
Click to expand...


I knew it, it DOES happen! :eek:
 
I have a spare prescription and spare prescription sun glasses. Not a big deal
 
I had asked this very question earlier in another thread about frames. Yes, I carry an extra pair but have never needed them.

Could I land the airplane without them? I most likely I could ... finding the airport without them might be more of the problem. o_O

Thanks for posting the FAA guidance on this. I was doing it correctly and didn't even know it ...
 
Dana said:
I lost my sunglasses out the window of a C-150 when I went to spit my gum out the window during my long Private cross country.
Click to expand...

Don't forget to add to this story "... after carefully surveying the area to assure that no objects dropped from the plane would cause damage or injury to property or persons on the ground."

We gotz FARs and **** to comply with ;)
 
Daleandee said:
Could I land the airplane without them? I most likely I could ...
Click to expand...

I KNOW I could! On my last BFR my CFI had me remove my glasses for a lap around the pattern and I had no problem. I wouldn't want to try this at night, however...

-Skip
 
Last edited:
I don't have many worries about losing my glasses in flight, but on an overnight trip I do put an extra pair of glasses into my suitcase so that if I break my glasses, I don't end up stranded someplace looking for an optometrist. I do that when flying commercial, too.
 
I keep a pair in the airplane,you wouldn't want a ramp check and not have your glasses.
 
Whenever passengers left their glasses behind, I or my fellow pilots would hang them in the cabin in plain sight. Like a lost and found. If you landed and got "ramped", and by chance, didn't have YOUR glasses, there is always lost and found.
 
Half Fast said:
It seems unlikely that your glasses could fall off while being clamped by your headset.
Click to expand...

I was flying a C-210 once and went through a very nice set of embedded level 4 thunderstorms. At one point my keys came out of the pocket of my flight bag and hung up on the temple of my glasses. I was reporting the turbulence as severe so I was too busy to let one hand lose to retrieve the keys. When my headset left me, so did the keys and my glasses. But at that point the plane was going in all directions and it was all I could do to keep from going inverted.

Then again that was a very isolated incident and I hope to NEVER go through that again.

The glasses survived and so did I....
 
Peter Ha said:
I have this re-occurring nightmare/fear of my glasses falling out the windows during flight;
Click to expand...

About twice a year I have a dream where I am flying a twin. Suddenly the floor of the plane falls off from nose to tail. Nothing falls out, it just gets windy in the plane.
 
Peter Ha said:
Hey folks,
I have this re-occurring nightmare/fear of my glasses falling out the windows during flight; thereby dying in a crash. :eek:
Have you ever hear this happening to someone?
Thinking of carrying extra pair in glove compartment.
Am I the only one with this irrational fear?
Click to expand...

I lost my glasses once while skydiving. I was able to pull the chute, locate the airport and land without incident. You'll be surprised how much you can see once your life is in the line. :)
 
kgruber said:
Go get your cataract surgery. Everybody eventually gets them. You'll be 20/20 after.
Click to expand...

This man has the answer. Was near sighted all my life. Had required glasses restriction on my commercial driver's license from the day I got it (my 1st and only driver's license). I got cataract and had to have the surgery. $5000 an eye, but my company insurance paid $8000 for the surgery. My cost $2000 total. The company insurance dropped me from the company policy shortly afterwards :). They measure your eye and replace the lenses with the correct plastic ones that give you 20/20 vision. What a difference it is to see clearly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top