Intro

So you are a pilot. Can a pilot wear spectacles? That's the question I often get when I tell people what I do.

Yes, you don’t have to have 100% perfect eyesight to become a pilot anymore. Yes, as long as your eyesight can be corrected to perfect vision, i.e. 6/6 vision, and you meet the minimum visual acuity required without visual aid, you have a chance of joining the flying profession.

I was quite happy to answer that question to friends whom I met for the first time. Then there is this friend of mine who kept asking me the same question every time we meet. He is a medical professional by the way. It is either he never listens to me or there is too many things for him to remember in his daily practice.

I live on an island where more than two third of the student population wears spectacles or contact lenses. The reasons why this phenomenon happens make a good research topic for a university thesis. There are simply not enough people here who do not wear spectacles to join the flying profession. By the way, why must a pilot have perfect eyesight? I have not figured out the answer either.

When I first introduce myself, I will say ‘I am flying for an airline’ so as not to sound too cocky, you know what I mean? Can you imagine I walk up to a lady, stretch out my hand and say, ‘Hi, I am a Pilot.’?

Looking at my spectacles, the next question usually is, ‘Oh, so you are a cabin crew?’

‘No, err, I am a First Officer.’

‘Officer? Ground staff or customers service officer?’

At this point, I am usually quite irritated already. And so I will not care whether I will be construed as cocky or not anymore. I will say, ‘Hi, I am Pilot.’

And you know what? ‘Pilot’ will be my name that they will remember for the next few times and many times thereafter that we meet, regardless of what my actual name is. Pilot, WILL BE my name when they introduce me to their friends. Or at least, my profession will be mentioned anyhow during the conversation. And our conversation will not go far from airplanes, airports, airline destinations and everything related to aviation industry.

I am not sure whether having a pilot friend actually gives you pride and pleasure, it somehow happens that way. It’s not that I don’t like the attention. In fact I love every bit of it. Who won’t? But that comes with a price. If I don’t make a conscious effort to steer away from those topics, I will end up an egoistic snob who knows very little of his new friends.

So if you are a friend of mine, please just accept me for whom I am. Please understand that my actual name (and thus my actual person) is in constant struggle with my profession (and your perceived pilot’s image) for your attention.

Watch out for my next posting in which I will tell you more about my actual person versus the stereotypical pilot’s image.