The CF policy on laser eye surgery for Pilots? Unfair?

[Badanai]

Why would you tell them you had it done???? If you are just joining the military!!!!! just a thought

I had my laser eye surgery done when I was in the infantry. my vision cat as a V3 and dropped to a V4 After my surgery I was up to a V1
and no problems ever since

 

[nULL]

The problem, as i understand it, is a practical one. The effects of a sudden loss of pressure or ejection sequence on a "surgically enhanced" eye are not completely understood. (Just imagine your corneas peeling off...!) When one considers the high cost of training a military pilot, it would only make sense for the CF to pick the candidates most likely to succeed - no doubt this is why the inital personal, educational, and physical qualifications are so high.

 

[nULL]

Why would you tell them you had it done???? If you are just joining the military!!!!! just a thought

I had my laser eye surgery done when I was in the infantry. my vision cat as a V3 and dropped to a V4 After my surgery I was up to a V1
and no problems ever since

Not a good idea. My father is a physician who has performed air force medicals. (My "big goal" in life is to be a military aviator, but due to be own V3 vision will not be able to accomplish this in Canada.) Anyway, he told me that pilots have a whole battery of medical tests thrust upon them, including photographs of their corneas - presumably for comparison "before" and "after" shots for use following something as traumatic as an ejection sequence. Like most types of surgury, I would imagine that laser eye surgury leaves behind some type of mark, making it difficult to conceal. At any rate, you don't really want to intentionally lie on your medical; I've heard that it is grounds for dismissal. 

 

[Torlyn]

including photographs of their corneas

Yuppers.  They do this during the Medical portion of your Aircrew selection, and yes, they can tell.  Myself and the WO had a great chat about what a good job they did on my eyes...  Can't fly the damned things, but apparently I'm okay to navigate them. 

T

 

[I_Drive_Planes]

They actually do a test called Corneal Topography specificaly to see if you have had laser eye surgery (because it is impossible to tell by just looking at your eye).  They essentially take a sort of photo of your cornea, and when you look at it it looks like a topo map of a hill (with different colours for different elevations), you can see as it tapers and get higher and becomes a peak.  If an eye which has had laser surgery the image tapers up to a point, and then flattens right out, or even dishes in a bit.  That was a really neat test to see the results of.  If you lie and say you've never had laser surgery they will find you out, and you will probably lose a chance at any other military career because for some reason they have a particular distaste for dishonesty.

Why would you tell them you had it done???? If you are just joining the military!!!!! just a thought

If I'm not mistaken you are required to divulge your complete medical history, and IIRC other army.ca members have been slapped for counselling prospective recruits to be dishonest (and yes failure to disclose=dishonesty) on their applications.  I'm sure we don't want people lying on their applications, getting thrown out of the process and saying "But some guy on army.ca told me I should."  Be careful about the advice you give, someone might just take it!

Planes

 

[huskot]

Nah, I'd never lie during my physical. Hell, I never lie... period. I'm the worst liar on the face of the earth.
Thanks so much for your advice, guys. I guess becoming a pilot isn't possible then... in that case, I'm NOT getting laser surgery. It's glasses for me!

 

[Sam69]

This used to be a policy that I ardently supported. However, given the advances in laser eye surgery, the fact that the majority of CF pilots will not fly fast air, and our growing problems attracting new pilot applicants, I think it is time to start considering those who have corrected 20/20 vision. Of course, you would still likely need some reasonable limits on how great of a correction that you would accept. At the very least, it is time to recruit a few people with corrected vision to start to collect data on the effects their surgery has on their performance in the cockpit (if any).

To mitigate the risk to the individual and the system (i.e. we pay $5M to train them on the CF-188 and then lose them when they degrade to V3), we could simply restrict entrants who have corrected vision to non-fast air cockpits.

Sam

 

[FSGT Lampkin]

My recruiter told me "we're letting our NATO allies test it first (laser eye surgery for pilot), and then may potentially bring it in".......would it be worth going to to States for pilot if you couldn't do it up here for eyes? i really have no knowledge on the US Airforce training program and how it relates to ours.

Thanks

 

[Bo]

My recruiter told me "we're letting our NATO allies test it first (laser eye surgery for pilot), and then may potentially bring it in".......would it be worth going to to States for pilot if you couldn't do it up here for eyes? i really have no knowledge on the US Airforce training program and how it relates to ours.

Thanks

You have to be a US citizen to join their military.

 

[mdh]

For those interested in the US Navy's policy on laser eye surgery here is a link that provides details - PRK is deemed acceptable for pilot candidates: 

http://navymedicine.med.navy.mil/bumed/index.cfm?docid=12108

cheers, mdh

 

[FSGT Lampkin]

During my aircrew medical at DRDC yesterday i saw on the doctors desk a report about 20 pages long entitled "A Comprehensive Report of the Effects of Refractive Laser Surgery on Aircrew: Feb 2005". In hindsight i probably should have asked him if i could read it lol, but ill have a look online to see if i find anything

 

[Hunter911]

Apparently there is also a problem with constant high altitudes after having laser eye surgery... something about how it starts to wear off? Thats just something i hear from a friend of mine...

Another question Ive asked time and time again and have been told to use the "search" function is...Do you need 20/20 vision to become a sniper? And if so, is Laser eye surgery acceptable?

Thanks

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Another question Ive asked time and time again and have been told to use the "search" function is...Do you need 20/20 vision to become a sniper? And if so, is Laser eye surgery acceptable?

Use the "Search" function.

 

[Hunter911]

I suppose i deserved that...

 

[CF-22 Raptor]

I've been told you need perfect vision to be a sniper, but IMO i think that laser would be ok since you wouldn't be flying planes or choppers if you're a sniper.

 

[dk]

Don' know if you have the answer for the sniper question, but here's a good thread that helped me with my Vision questions...

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/31590.0.html

There is a link to to see what each military occupation requires for vision on the first post of that thread.

 

[Hunter911]

Thank you both very much for your input

 

[Grunthor]

What i've never understood is why we can't just wear glasses or contacts.   I can see for fast air that they would probably get in the way but for any other plane we fly i just don't get it.  Anyone care to explain this to me?

 

[Inch]

What i've never understood is why we can't just wear glasses or contacts.   I can see for fast air that they would probably get in the way but for any other plane we fly i just don't get it.   Anyone care to explain this to me?

You can wear glasses, once you're trained.

 

[medicineman]

I seem to remember the Brits were having problems with their chopper pilots with NVG's and the laser surgery - they were having problems with some of the subtle colour/shade differences you get.  As you can imagine, that could become a bit of a problem during NOE flight, since there are only really shades of green/black for your background - if you misjudge something, it could be a career detriment so to speak.  Mind you, this study was going on in the mid 90's - they may have changed their "view" as it were on things.

MM