Reply With QuoteWell, dunno about your Italians, but here only very light Myopia is accepted. You should consider laser surgery if it's possible, since I do believe the requierments in most airforces are pretty much the same.
Eyesight to enter air force
Hi to anyone who's reading this!
I am currently thinking of joining the Italian Air Force/AM however I am slightly Miopic ( I have Miopia) and don't know what the requested eyesight is in the italian air force (Basically I don't know squat) I was wandering if anyone could help me out by letting me know some info!
P.S. also the Italian Army Aviation if anyone could let me know...!
thanks in advance to anyone who can answer
cheers
Well, dunno about your Italians, but here only very light Myopia is accepted. You should consider laser surgery if it's possible, since I do believe the requierments in most airforces are pretty much the same.
Enter as a pilot or generally? It's a very different standard I'd presume.
I'm interested in entering as a pilotOriginally Posted by Corrupt
Before you go ahead with something like laser surgery, make very sure your airforce accepts this. The Belgian airforce doesn't (or didn't back when I wanted to join) so instead of the more popular/less painful LASIK procedure I opted for the very painful and annoying LASEK/PKR technique. This last technique doesn't leave scars and is almost impossible for ophthalmologists to detect without very specific equipment. Something to consider.
hei thanks for the reply, that sounds quite interesting ( and painful ) the italian air force does not accept LASIK so I was wandering if you could tell me more about this procedure and if air forces would accept it?
cheers
Sure thing. You'd probably be able to find out more if you google it, but I'll explain what I know. With traditional LASIK, the doctor cuts a flap off your cornea and then uses a laser to burn off a layer to achieve the desired result. Then they close the flap again. You instantly have perfect vision and it is painless, but it does leave visible scars that an ophthalmologist would be able to see during an examination. LASEK (aka PRK for photorefractive keractectomy) is a different procedure where they do not make a flap in the cornea, but they immediately use a laser to burn off a layer of the surface of your eye. After the procedure, it takes about a week before you can see well. During this week your eyes are very painful, highly irritated and very very sensitive to light. Seriously, I locked myself in my room for a week because even normal daylight would hurt like hell, and for the whole week it felt like I had a bucket of sand in my eyes that I couldn't get out. BUT it is more safe than LASIK, and it doesnt leave visible scars. The only way an ophthalmologist could detect it is if they used a special device to measure the curvature of the surface of your eyeball, but that is very very rare.
To be clear, this is probably not a procedure the Italian Air Force accepts, the Belgian Air Force didn't accept it either. But since it doesn't leave scars, they would never be able to find out during your medical exam. Essentially you'd be lying to get in, so thats a choice you'd have to make for yourself. I felt comfortable with the idea since there is absolutely no logical reason why having gotten 20/20 vision from a LASEK procedure should make you less qualified that someone who has perfect vision from birth, and several air forces have realized this and accept laser surgery for pilots. In the end though I turned out to be a good 10cm too tall to join the air force so it was never an issue
as far as I know natural 10/10 and no surgery accepted (italian air force)
If you look anything like this, you won't be able to see the control panels
ok that sounds great, i also agree with you for the logical reason, I have been searching google for this but all I'm getting is LASIK VS LASEK and it barely tells me anything, I just waned to ask you one ( or 2) last question/s would this procedure have side effects later on, e.g. make me blind when I'm 57Sure thing. You'd probably be able to find out more if you google it, but I'll explain what I know. With traditional LASIK, the doctor cuts a flap off your cornea and then uses a laser to burn off a layer to achieve the desired result. Then they close the flap again. You instantly have perfect vision and it is painless, but it does leave visible scars that an ophthalmologist would be able to see during an examination. LASEK (aka PRK for photorefractive keractectomy) is a different procedure where they do not make a flap in the cornea, but they immediately use a laser to burn off a layer of the surface of your eye. After the procedure, it takes about a week before you can see well. During this week your eyes are very painful, highly irritated and very very sensitive to light. Seriously, I locked myself in my room for a week because even normal daylight would hurt like hell, and for the whole week it felt like I had a bucket of sand in my eyes that I couldn't get out. BUT it is more safe than LASIK, and it doesnt leave visible scars. The only way an ophthalmologist could detect it is if they used a special device to measure the curvature of the surface of your eyeball, but that is very very rare.
To be clear, this is probably not a procedure the Italian Air Force accepts, the Belgian Air Force didn't accept it either. But since it doesn't leave scars, they would never be able to find out during your medical exam. Essentially you'd be lying to get in, so thats a choice you'd have to make for yourself. I felt comfortable with the idea since there is absolutely no logical reason why having gotten 20/20 vision from a LASEK procedure should make you less qualified that someone who has perfect vision from birth, and several air forces have realized this and accept laser surgery for pilots. In the end though I turned out to be a good 10cm too tall to join the air force so it was never an issueand also what is the required age for this procedure, thanks again!
As for question 1, it'd fvcking better not! Nope shouldn't have any side effects. As for the required age, your ophthalmologist will help you decide that. I got my surgery when I was 17. The most important thing is that the condition of your eyes is stable. Mine hadn't deteriorated for over two years, so the doctor felt comfortable with doing the surgery.ok that sounds great, i also agree with you for the logical reason, I have been searching google for this but all I'm getting is LASIK VS LASEK and it barely tells me anything, I just waned to ask you one ( or 2) last question/s would this procedure have side effects later on, e.g. make me blind when I'm 57
merci dude that was all very helpful, hopefully i'll be able to join the air force, really wanna get my hands on them f-35 haha
cheers
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