It has been mentioned previously in discussions in the hang gliding community, that your eyes can dry out if you are flying high. I didn't know that this was happening to me, but I noticed that I was getting blurry vision at times. I noticed when I was low (1000 AGL) over the gas wells west of Andrews on day five of the Big Spring International that I couldn't make out the single strand power lines just below me. I could see the poles but not the lines. That was scary. I made sure that I stayed up.

Then the other day while flying at the "nationals" in Lakeview after I landed things looked a little blurry and I noticed  when I was driving that I could see better through the plastic stick on reading lens that I have on my Rudy Project sun glasses. This blurriness lasted for about forty five minutes.

I've noticed for a number of years that my vision is blurry in the morning. I can't see that well through my computer/reading glasses again for about forty five minutes.

When I went in for my annual eye exam here in Jackson, I mentioned this to the eye doc. He said that it was most likely the fact that my eyes were drying out and he gave my a sample of some lubricant eye drops that are supposed to last for up to eight hours. He said to take them when I go to bed to solve the problem in the morning and take them when I go flying. I'll give them a try.

I had noticed that I was tearing up in flight, and so I used my visor a bunch, but not always. I haven't been flying with my Blue Eye Goggles lately, so I'll give them a try to see if they cut down on the dry eye and blurriness situation. Here\'s another option.

Apparently having radial keratotomy makes the situation worse as the eye doc noticed that there was quicker evaporation along the eight slits in each of my eyes. So I have to be a bit more vigilant re this issue than folks with no eye surgery or Lasik surgery.

I also went back to the doc to get a prescription for my glasses that actually worked. I've had three prescriptions from him in the last year and none of them have dealt correctly with my astigmatism. That adds to the base line blurriness. Hopefully this new prescription will improve things. It would be nice to be able to actually see when I'm flying. I've been using the Braille method for a couple of years now.

I've tried Soothe XP lubricant eye drops from Bausch and Lomb. There are other manufacturers of lubricant eye drops also. This one blurs your vision for a few seconds before it clears up.