Mecaplex and DG recommend tinted

True - but even on dull days in Scotland I have never
once in 27 seasons found sunglasses off to be preferrable
to sunglasses on in a glider.

The light reduction from a tinted canopy is a fraction
of that from the average sunglasses. They just look
dark from the outside because the observer is firstly,
looking through 2 layers of canopy, and secondly, looking
from the outside in.

It is an 'urban myth' that blue/green tinted canopies
have a detectable adverse effect on visual acuity.
People hypothesise possible mechanisms whereby the
acuity could be affected but unfortunately forget to
make the observations to find out whether the hypothesis
is an actual fact. I have studied this matter using
our blue tinted canopy Duo by comparing looking through
the canopy and the open clear view panel at distant
small objects with different coloured sunglasses, conditions
and P2s and have previously reported back on the findings
to this forum.

Personally I think that the biggest benefit is cosmetic
and there are downsides like heat expansion and colour
distortion of photographs that the human eye is unaware
of in flight. My next glider will have a clear canopy
for these reasons.

John Galloway

At 18:54 13 September 2003, Eric Greenwell wrote:
In article ,
says...
Better not wear sun glasses if you feel that the reduced
light of a tinted canopy will significantly affect
your vision!

At least you can remove the sunglasses in flight at
no cost. Removing
the tinted canopy in flight would be expensive!
--
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directly

Eric Greenwell
Richland, WA (USA)