"skyfish" wrote in message
0...
I want to get current on my VFR Single Engine Land license but my eyes
are not what they used to be. The strength I need for good far vision
makes it so I can't read charts in the cockpit without taking them off.

I figured I would try a progressive lens because I thought it would
eliminate the extra task of taking my glasses off to look at a chart
(less work load is good right?), but I'm concerned about a few things:

1) the distortion of my peripheral vision for the top part of the lens,
let alone the bottom part.

2) the narrowness of the "corridor" that forces me to turn my head for
every single thing I want to look at... flight instruments and radios
are far enough apart to require a head turn.

3) can't view the entire width of a 81/2 piece of paper. I can only get
good focus on about 1/3 of it. The beginning and ends of the sentence
will be out of focus.

4) how much of my attention will be on getting my glasses to work vs.
looking out the window or at my instruments.

Any thoughts, ideas or personal experience you would care to relate
would be very much appreciated.

My personal experience:
After almost 48 years, I finally had to get glasses. I can see at distance
fine but anything closer than about 3 feet, I can't focus on. I tried the
no-line bifocals (progressives?) for about a month but couldn't get use to
them. The field of view (in focus) was narrow and I had to turn my head more
than I was use to. I did try flying with them and didn't have any problems
with reading charts, gauges, scanning for traffic or landing...

I took the no-line bifocals back and got regular tri-focals now and they
work great, for me, for reading, working on the computers, driving and
flying. The top major part of these trifocals is mostly clear. The first
magnification works well for reading the computer monitors at about arms
length. The bottom is for reading closer up.

-Greg B.