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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
DEFPOTECAirline pilot myth #1: The old notion of the steely-eyed airline captain whose eyes "see around the world" is a thing of the past. Everything we need to be able to see to safely guide the modern airliner to the runway is displayed on a CRT 24 inches in front of our face. In the old days, however, when anything less than 20/20 uncorrected was thought to be unacceptable, pilots with less than "perfect" vision had to improvise on occasion in order to pass their eye exam.
A few years ago when I was training on the MD-11 I had a simulator instructor who had flown the B707 and the DC-8 at Braniff Airlines, an honest-to-God "old pelican". I was grousing about having to wear glasses to read the 20/20 line during my last flight physical, and had just confessed to the fact that I never wear them in the airplane when this old guy let me in on a old aviator's secret.
"Son," he said as he leaned over the throttle quadrant. "In thirty five years of airline flying I never donned a single pair of eye glasses, and I'm blind as a bat. Always have been."
"And exactly how did you manage three decades of successful eye exams without glasses?"
He smiled at my obvious ignorance.
"Defpotec, son," he said with a sly grin. "Defpotec."
As it turns out, the 20/20 line on all US government eye charts published since the late fifties reads, and has always read, "D E F P O T E C".
Don't believe me? I just did my flight physical yesterday, and was able to get the "must wear corrective lenses" waiver removed from my medical certificate.
I had to laugh when the nurse told me to cover one eye and read the lowest line I could. Heck, why don't I cover both eyes? Dutifully, I placed my hand over my right eye and rattled off D E F P O T E C, switched eyes and repeated the litany.
"My, you have excellent vision."
"Thank you, I always have."
A few years ago when I was training on the MD-11 I had a simulator instructor who had flown the B707 and the DC-8 at Braniff Airlines, an honest-to-God "old pelican". I was grousing about having to wear glasses to read the 20/20 line during my last flight physical, and had just confessed to the fact that I never wear them in the airplane when this old guy let me in on a old aviator's secret.
"Son," he said as he leaned over the throttle quadrant. "In thirty five years of airline flying I never donned a single pair of eye glasses, and I'm blind as a bat. Always have been."
"And exactly how did you manage three decades of successful eye exams without glasses?"
He smiled at my obvious ignorance.
"Defpotec, son," he said with a sly grin. "Defpotec."
As it turns out, the 20/20 line on all US government eye charts published since the late fifties reads, and has always read, "D E F P O T E C".
Don't believe me? I just did my flight physical yesterday, and was able to get the "must wear corrective lenses" waiver removed from my medical certificate.
I had to laugh when the nurse told me to cover one eye and read the lowest line I could. Heck, why don't I cover both eyes? Dutifully, I placed my hand over my right eye and rattled off D E F P O T E C, switched eyes and repeated the litany.
"My, you have excellent vision."
"Thank you, I always have."
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