AUSTIN, Texas – “The interesting thing about classic aviator sunglasses with steel temples is they were designed before pilots used headsets,” said Dean Siracusa, founder of Flying Eyes. “So even though aviators look stylish, most pilots will tell you, ‘If you’re wearing a headset with traditional aviators, they can become a real pain in the ears.’”
“The aviator design hasn’t really changed that much since they were invented more than 70 years ago, so it seemed like the perfect place to start.”
The secret to Flying Eyes’ design is a material called Ultem, a patented, flexible polymer originally designed for the aerospace industry. With its extreme flexibility and durability, Flying Eyes temples are able to be extremely thin — just 1mm. This allows them to fit under any helmet or headset, with minimal pressure or irritation to the sides of the head, according to company officials.
In addition to the updated aviators, Flying Eyes has announced a number of new frame styles with its latest crowdfunding campaign, including updated beach frames, sport frames, readers, and protective wear.
The Kickstarter campaign can be found here: http://bit.ly/flyingeyes, and will close just before Christmas on Dec. 23, at 12:30 p.m. CST.
Your opening statement: “The interesting thing about classic aviator sunglasses with steel temples is they were designed before pilots used headsets,” said Dean Siracusa, founder of Flying Eyes.”
Not true. Take a look at photos of WWII Bomber pilots many of whom are wearing headsets and some are also wearing their uniform frame covers presumably for protection from the cold with the headsets crushing down on the covers. It’s the sunglasses and wearing them not only for UV glare protection but as an aviator fashion fad that came later.
Noise attenuating (noise reducing headsets) were not invented until the 1970s. And, even then, serious efforts to reduce noise didn’t happen until the last 20 years. This is done with either electronics (active noise cancellation) or clamping force.
The headphones that pilots wore during WWII did nothing to reduce noise, they were simple speakers with ear-pads. If you couldn’t hear what was on the radio you just turned up the volume. That’s why many older pilots are hard of hearing.