Cary wrote:My sunglass frames are Marchon Flexons. Besides being very thin, the bows are very flexible (they call them Flexon for a reason!), so that the headset easily pushes them to my head, so they seal very well with every headset I have worn. There are other brands with thin, flexible bows, but these are the best I've owned.

My sunglasses are prescription tri-focals, non-polarized, varying from very dark at the top of the lenses through not quite plain, only slightly shaded, at the bottom. I won't wear polarized sunglasses to fly--not only can they block the screens of various devices, but they can interfere with seeing clearly out the windshield.
The FAA has a nice brochure on sunglasses for pilots. You can read the whole thing at https://www.faa.gov/pilots/safety/pilot ... lasses.pdf. Here's what they say specifically about polarization:

POLARIZATION. Polarized lenses are not recommended for use in the aviation environment. While useful for blocking reflected light from horizontal surfaces such as water or snow, polarization can reduce or eliminate the visibility of instruments that incorporate antiglare filters. Polarized lenses may also interfere with visibility through an aircraft windscreen by enhancing striations in laminated materials and mask the sparkle of light that reflects off shiny surfaces such as another aircraft’s wing or windscreen, which can reduce the time a pilot has to react in a “see-and-avoid” traffic situation.

It helps to have decent ear seals, too. The ear seals on my DC One-X are as good as they come--DC finally got the message, so to speak. The ear seals on my other DC headsets (2 pairs of 10-12.4 and my original DC 10-40) are Oregon Aero, and they are much better than the original DC ear seals and the ear seals of most other brands of headsets.

Cary

I have to disagree 100% regarding polarization. I've used many different high end sunglass lenses, and I see distant airplanes MUCH better with polarized lenses. I do not get any distortion through my windshield, or side bubble windows, and I don't have any trouble reading my instruments, including the GPS's. Obviously, if polarized lenses cause any of those problems in a particular airplane, they're not ideal.

I won't even consider sunglasses that are not polarized. I think they provide a level of clarity and detail that is simply unattainable with any other lens.

I have to agree with Hammer. I see threads about sunglasses regularly, and somebody usually posts the stuff about polarization being not recommended. My personal experience is that I see everything better with polarized lenses, and I no longer buy anything that is not polarized. YMMV.

I can’t wear polarized at work because of laminated poly windscreens and polarized glass panels, but I maximize my use of polarized sunglasses in my personal plane for the same reasons as Hammer and Troy. I just seem to see things better with the polarized lenses.

Troy Hamon wrote:I have to agree with Hammer. I see threads about sunglasses regularly, and somebody usually posts the stuff about polarization being not recommended. My personal experience is that I see everything better with polarized lenses, and I no longer buy anything that is not polarized. YMMV.

Same. Aside from certain screen display issues, and the rare "I only avoided the mid-air because I was able to catch the glare off his polished spinner" reason, I think the pros of polarized outweigh the cons.

Also, it depends on your aircraft. Some Lexan has a coating that appears prismatic/rainbowish through polarized lenses. It can be a little annoying.

And finally, the look of the outside world with less reflections and glare can be odd for some. Sense of reality may be affected. YMMV.

The issue from polarized lenses is real.
If the screen you're looking at is highly polarized and your glasses are highly polarized and the polarization of the two are 90 degrees to each other, it can make the screen look black or at least darker than normal.

That doesnt mean it will always happen. Easy test, put on a set of polarized glasses and look at the screens in your airplane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUA6nyvy-LY

It's a real thing

That reminds me of just before Christmas. When I went through Atlanta on Delta, I had to change planes and when I looked at the screens for the gate number, they were all blank. I'm thinking, what the heck, and then realized I had my clip on dark glasses on.

I didn't mean to start an argument about polarized vs. non-polarized. I was told not to wear polarized when I first started to learn in November 1972, and I haven't bought polarized since. Each to his own.

Cary

Cary wrote:I didn't mean to start an argument about polarized vs. non-polarized. I was told not to wear polarized when I first started to learn in November 1972, and I haven't bought polarized since. Each to his own.

Cary

I was told the same thing and in fact, my instructor wouldn't LET me wear polarized lenses when he was in the cockpit

It's good to know the 'Why' behind things tho.

The primary place where polarized lenses MAY be an issue is in Seaplane ops. There, it is possible to exacerbate the issues of glassy water with polarized lenses.

Unfortunately, a lot of people have heard the admonition not to wear polarized lenses in seaplanes and extrapolated that to ALL Aircraft.

That said, I suggest to anyone who likes polarized lenses for low visibility ops to try a pair of Serengeti Aviators on when it’s smoky, and compare to other lenses. There are lots of companies that have imitated the color of Serengeti’s glass, but none come near providing their clarity in smoke and other obscurations.

And they’re good on sunny days as well.

I have tried polarized glass, but never saw any benefit over Serengeti’s which I’ve been wearing for decades.

MTV

I mount the iPad in portriat orientation on the yoke in my Cessna and cannot see the screen with my polarized glasses unless I turn my head 90 degrees. I have some Ray Ban Caravans that live in the flight bag that work well for viewing screens and are comfortable with the ear cup seals on my Lightspeed Zulus. I prefer my lighter weight polarized shades for the rest of my activities, so I generally leave the flying glasses in the flight bag when away from the pilot's seat. Multiple pairs of shades are also nice to have along because they are easily lost or damaged.

A buddy of mine has a perfect inexpensive solution to sealing on headsets. He has jump planes, which tend to be really loud. Something to do with a large open door howling in the wind. He finds whatever modestly priced sunglass set he likes. He then saws off the earpieces, leaving a stub that does not go as far as the headset. He then fits some of the Crokie neoprene straps to the stubs. They hold the sunglass to your face with light elastic pressure. The neoprene makes a perfect seal with the ear cups. They also keep them around your neck when not in use. Cheap and simple. Frankly expensive sunglasses die early around airplanes. I don't want to total up the money I have spent over the years replacing ones, sat on, dropped and stepped on, scratched while preflighting. I even had a pair sucked off my face out the window of a Twin Otter while photographing a group of whales on Survey with NOAA, they are on the bottom of Cold Bay now.

Never could use polarized glasses in most of the aircraft I have flown. The patterns on glass windshields make you sick after a while and as mentioned, displays vanish and so on. I have grown fond of transitions style glasses that darken from exposure and lighten as needed. They are expensive. Led to an embarrassing half hour crawling around bushes looking for them the other day when the vegetation scraped them off my shirt in the field. I knew better than return home without them, my wife has grown exasperated on my parade of eyewear incidents.

A fairly simple solution to the gap formed by glasses are the little "Stop gap" thingies from David Clark

Stop Gap, Eyeglass Temple Cushion
Part No. 12500G-02

They work and are comfortable. Just go ahead and order multiple sets as you are guaranteed of loosing one.

Scolopax wrote:I mount the iPad in portriat orientation on the yoke in my Cessna and cannot see the screen with my polarized glasses unless I turn my head 90 degrees. I have some Ray Ban Caravans that live in the flight bag that work well for viewing screens and are comfortable with the ear cup seals on my Lightspeed Zulus. I prefer my lighter weight polarized shades for the rest of my activities, so I generally leave the flying glasses in the flight bag when away from the pilot's seat. Multiple pairs of shades are also nice to have along because they are easily lost or damaged.

Had the same problem with my Galaxy Tab Pro, then I discovered if I put an 'Anti-Glare' (not glossy or 'crystal') screen protector on it, the problem with polarized glasses went any away, I could hold it at any angle. I have good luck in cutting them down to size to fit other displays too.

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

mtv wrote:The primary place where polarized lenses MAY be an issue is in Seaplane ops. There, it is possible to exacerbate the issues of glassy water with polarized lenses.

Unfortunately, a lot of people have heard the admonition not to wear polarized lenses in seaplanes and extrapolated that to ALL Aircraft.

That said, I suggest to anyone who likes polarized lenses for low visibility ops to try a pair of Serengeti Aviators on when it’s smoky, and compare to other lenses. There are lots of companies that have imitated the color of Serengeti’s glass, but none come near providing their clarity in smoke and other obscurations.

And they’re good on sunny days as well.

I have tried polarized glass, but never saw any benefit over Serengeti’s which I’ve been wearing for decades.

MTV

MTV...I also love Serengettis...but mine are polarized.

I guess for whatever reason, I don’t recall ever having lost a pair of sunglasses. I’ve lost damn near everything else I own at least once.....including a government issued gun. But my current Serengeti’s are 15 or ?? Years old. I gave the last pair to a friend so I could justify buying a new pair.

MTV

I have 2 pairs of Maui Jim's and a pair of Smiths. I wear my Maui Jim - Red Sands and have no issue with noise.