Physical Requirements

All cadets wishing to branch into Aviation must pass a class one flight physical. This will be completed at LDAC. The standards can be found in AR 40-501 chapter 4. There are two areas of concern that I had to work my way through that may be of concern for others. First, vision requirements are laid out in paragraph 4-12. The standard for visual acuity for pilots is 20/50 far vision and 20/20 near vision. I personally did not meet this standard so I looked into the requirements for corrective surgery. PRK has long been permitted by the Army and LASIK is now being approved as well. There may be an extensive recovery period  so it is advisable that you get the surgery done early. I had mine done in December which did not leave me an option to get a second correction done if necessary. The second concern of mine was size requirements. I'm a big guy and people had told me I would be too big to meet size requirements. I read the size requirements in paragraph 4-16 and thought they were right; I certainly exceeded the arm reach max of 5' 4", sitting height max of 3' 4", and crotch height of 29 inches. Come to find out, these sizes are the requirements for the smallest of the Army helicopters, the Kiowa. It is still possible to fly other airframes. There are many other physical requirements listed in the AR. They all boil down to one basic requirement, you must be in great health and in top physical condition if you want to get into aviation.