Prescriptive eyeglass use by U.S. Navy jet pilots: effects on air-to-air target detection

Air-to-air target detection distances, age, career jet flight hours, and total career flight hours were obtained for 167 U.S. Navy fighter pilots participating in air combat maneuver training at Naval Air Station, Oceana, VA. Of the pilots sampled, 22 used a prescribed spectacle correction while flying; 145 did not. We compared the air-to-air target detection distances between the two groups of pilots, those with corrective glasses and those without. Sunglasses and tinted filters were not factors in the present study. The results strongly suggest that, as a group, the pilots without glasses were able to detect targets at a greater distance than the pilots with glasses. When the pilots were matched on the basis of age and flight experience, the difference in air-to-air target detection capabilities of the two groups increased. The pilots without glasses were able to detect their adversary at a distance more than 20% farther than the pilots with glasses.