FAR 67.103 — First-Class Medical Eye Standards
FAR 67.103 sets the eye standards for a first-class airman medical certificate: visual acuity, color, fields of vision, and binocular requirements.
In Plain English
FAR 67.103 lists the eye standards you must meet to hold a first-class airman medical certificate — the certificate required for ATP privileges. The rule covers six areas:
- Distant vision: 20/20 or better in each eye separately, with or without correction. If you need glasses or contacts to reach 20/20, you must wear them while flying.
- Near vision: 20/40 or better at 16 inches in each eye. If you're age 50 or older, you also must meet 20/40 at 32 inches (intermediate distance — think instrument panel range).
- Color vision: ability to perceive colors necessary for safe airman duties (signal lights, charts, displays).
- Normal fields of vision.
- No eye pathology — acute or chronic — that impairs eye function, is likely to progress, or could be made worse by flying.
- Bifoveal fixation and vergence-phoria sufficient to prevent a break in fusion. Special testing is only required if you exceed 1 prism diopter hyperphoria, 6 esophoria, or 6 exophoria.
This matters operationally because flying demands sharp distance vision for traffic and runways, near vision for charts and avionics, and reliable binocular vision for depth perception during landing.
Regulation Text
14 CFR § 67.103§ 67.103 Eye.
Eye standards for a first-class airman medical certificate are:
(a) Distant visual acuity of 20/20 or better in each eye separately, with or without corrective lenses. If corrective lenses (spectacles or contact lenses) are necessary for 20/20 vision, the person may be eligible only on the condition that corrective lenses are worn while exercising the privileges of an airman certificate.
(b) Near vision of 20/40 or better, Snellen equivalent, at 16 inches in each eye separately, with or without corrective lenses. If age 50 or older, near vision of 20/40 or better, Snellen equivalent, at both 16 inches and 32 inches in each eye separately, with or without corrective lenses.
(c) Ability to perceive those colors necessary for the safe performance of airman duties.
(d) Normal fields of vision.
(e) No acute or chronic pathological condition of either eye or adnexa that interferes with the proper function of an eye, that may reasonably be expected to progress to that degree, or that may reasonably be expected to be aggravated by flying.
(f) Bifoveal fixation and vergence-phoria relationship sufficient to prevent a break in fusion under conditions that may reasonably be expected to occur in performing airman duties. Tests for the factors named in this paragraph are not required except for persons found to have more than 1 prism diopter of hyperphoria, 6 prism diopters of esophoria, or 6 prism diopters of exophoria. If any of these values are exceeded, the Federal Air Surgeon may require the person to be examined by a qualified eye specialist to determine if there is bifoveal fixation and an adequate vergence-phoria relationship. However, if otherwise eligible, the person is issued a medical certificate pending the results of the examination.
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Oral Exam Questions a DPE Might Ask
Q1What are the distant and near visual acuity requirements for a first-class medical certificate?
Per FAR 67.103, distant vision must be 20/20 or better in each eye separately (with or without correction), and near vision must be 20/40 or better at 16 inches in each eye. Pilots age 50 or older must also meet 20/40 at 32 inches.
Q2If you need corrective lenses to meet the first-class vision standard, what limitation applies?
Under FAR 67.103(a), if corrective lenses are required to achieve 20/20 distant vision, you may exercise airman privileges only while wearing those corrective lenses, and the certificate will reflect that limitation.
Q3Does FAR 67.103 require every applicant to be tested for bifoveal fixation and vergence-phoria?
No. FAR 67.103(f) only requires that testing if the applicant exceeds 1 prism diopter of hyperphoria, 6 prism diopters of esophoria, or 6 prism diopters of exophoria; otherwise the standard is presumed met.
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Related Sections in Part 67
§ 67.1
Medical Certificate Applicability
§ 67.101
First-Class Medical Eligibility
§ 67.105
First-Class Medical ENT Standards
§ 67.107
First-Class Medical Mental Standards
§ 67.109
First-Class Medical Neurologic Standards
§ 67.111
First-Class Medical Cardiovascular
§ 67.113
First-Class Medical Standards
§ 67.115
Discretionary Medical Issuance