There is a question I have always wondered the answer to. Does having limited vision prohibit me from becoming a pilot?(Mainly a fighter pilot.) I would appreciate a reply from someone.

You gotta have 20-20 vision when you start you pilot career.  Your eyes can get worse with age, but they must remain correctable to 20-20 to keep flying.

With the advent of laser eye correction, most anybody can get 20-20 vision.  But do NOT go to non-military laser eye facility to get your eyes corrected if you want to be a military pilot.  It MUST be done by a military medical facility.  Military facilities use a different procedure than the civil facilities and the civil procedure is not rated for high G environments.  If you ever get a civil laser eye procedure, you'll never fly in the military.  Besides, the military will do it for free.

 

to be a  commercial pilot? for businesses like airtran and such

You need 20/20 vision to become a pilot... especially a fighter pilot.

If you are interested in vision improvement, you can check out this site:

http://www.improvingmyeyesight.com/rebuild.html

The site offers a program of eye exercises to improve your vision. Actually, the creator of the program, Orlin Sorensen, had a very similar situation like you... he wanted to be a pilot, but didn't have 20/20 vision. You can read his story on the site.

My vision is 20/400, which is really poor. I recently started doing the exercises to try to improve my vision. I created a blog where I record my progress with the exercises.

I recently saw some improvement. Other people (who have also experienced improvements) have posted comments about their experiences as well. You can check it out at: http://improvingmyeyesight.com/blog

Hope this helps....

You do not need 20/20 to be a pilot.  You need within a certain limit, 20/70 last I recall, or a waiver, or eye surgery...for the USAF anyway.

eyesight is important on piloting...as you need it especially when you became a fighter pilot...your eyes should be fast or else enemies will come to you without you knowing it before hand and you can't get ready...

...except for that multi-million dollar radar in the nose and the AWACS behind you...

You must have a 20-20 vision when you begin your career.

Eye sight is absolutely essential for flying duties in the Air force. At entry it should boe 20/20 with no Lasik, no Cataract or any opacity. Experinced pilots have a different standards.

Chech for more on these medical issues in this site -

http://aeromedforum.tk

So if someone wanted to be a search and rescue helicopter pilot for the air force, they couldn't wear contacts? someone told me that you could have 20/40 vision with any correction (Without wearing contacts,lasik?) but it needs to be correctable to 20/20. I mean I'm going to be going into highschool soon, and i had an herpes simplex virus in my right eye i got it when i was three. and ever since i've been going to a hospital in iowa city, and with a contact my eyes are 20/30 or 20/35. If my eyesight won't allow me to become a miliary sar pilot, should i pursue a different career? Or should this not affect anything?

THANKS SO MUCH!

I'd really appreciate it if someone could reply..

20/20, especially when starting, that's defo.

20/70 correctable to 20/20 is the requirement for a Class 1 flight physical in the USAF. 

However, the USAF will issue some waivers, and does allow PRK and LASIK for some people (make sure you are approved beforehand, or it can become a disqualification).

Don't listen to people who pop in and feed you misinformation about needing perfect eyesight to qualify.  It may have been that way in WWII, but it is not the current requirement.

It is quite clear: if you are blind, you can not fly!

I think you chose the right thing in your life to become a great pilot.

that's kind of obvious