The FAA medical
FAA Medical Vision Requirements: Glasses, 20/20 and 20/40
✓ Reviewed against current FAA sources on October 28, 2026
In this guide
In short
Distant vision must be 20/20 or better in each eye separately for a first or second class certificate, and 20/40 or better for a third class, in every case with or without corrective lenses. Near vision for all three classes is 20/40 or better at 16 inches in each eye. First and second class add a second near vision measurement at 32 inches from age 50 onward; third class has no age threshold. Glasses do not disqualify anyone, because every standard is written as with or without corrective lenses; the certificate simply carries a limitation requiring the correction to be worn. The color standard is the ability to perceive those colors necessary for the safe performance of airman duties.
Vision is the requirement people assume they have already failed, usually because they wear glasses. Glasses are not the problem. The standards are written to accommodate them.
What are the FAA vision requirements?
They differ by class, and the near vision standard is the same for all three.
- First class, 14 CFR 67.103 (opens in a new tab). Distant visual acuity of 20/20 or better in each eye separately, with or without corrective lenses.
- Second class, 14 CFR 67.203 (opens in a new tab). The same, 20/20 or better in each eye separately, with or without corrective lenses.
- Third class, 14 CFR 67.303 (opens in a new tab). Distant visual acuity of 20/40 or better in each eye separately, with or without corrective lenses.
Near vision for every class is 20/40 or better, Snellen equivalent, at 16 inches in each eye separately, with or without corrective lenses.
The detail most pages leave out
First and second class carry an additional near vision requirement at age 50. From 50 onward the standard is 20/40 or better at both 16 inches and 32 inches, in each eye separately. The third class standard has no age threshold at all.
That 32 inch measurement exists because of instrument panels rather than reading material, and it is a common surprise for a pilot renewing a first class certificate in their early fifties.
Does wearing glasses disqualify you?
No. Every acuity standard above is written as with or without corrective lenses. What happens instead is that the certificate carries a limitation requiring you to wear the correction while exercising its privileges. A limitation on a certificate is not a denial of one.
What about color vision?
The standard is the same in all three classes and it is not a specific test: the ability to perceive those colors necessary for the safe performance of airman duties.
Read what that does and does not say. It is written around safe performance of airman duties rather than around passing one particular plate test, which is why the color vision question has a process behind it rather than a single pass or fail at the chair.
Other eye conditions
Section 67.103 (opens in a new tab) also covers normal fields of vision, the absence of certain eye conditions and the binocular fusion and phoria limits. Two things are worth knowing beyond the acuity numbers.
Glaucoma is on the CACI list. CACI stands for Conditions AMEs Can Issue, and it is the FAA program under which an examiner may issue the certificate at the examination, the first time the condition is reported, where you meet the published worksheet and are otherwise qualified. Glaucoma is one of its 29 conditions, so it is a documented condition rather than an automatic deferral.
A static condition can take a SODA. Under 14 CFR 67.401 (opens in a new tab) a Statement of Demonstrated Ability covers a condition that is static or nonprogressive. It does not expire, and it lets an examiner issue the certificate directly for as long as the condition has not changed for the worse. A long standing vision defect that is not getting worse is exactly the shape of condition that provision was written for.
What to do before the appointment
If you wear correction, bring it along with a current prescription. If you have a diagnosed eye condition, find the CACI worksheet for it if there is one and bring what the worksheet asks for, because meeting the worksheet on the day is the difference between being issued at the appointment and being deferred for paperwork you could have brought.