serious color vision question.

[Fred Rogers]

What if it gets worse? It'd be a bitch to get 15-20 years down the line and be grounded, wouldn't it?

Colorblindness is not something that changes. You are born with it and it stays the same for the duration of your life. Your vision can change but your ability to see color does not. This is why they will issue a waiver for it - FOR LIFE - and you don't have to worry about it ever again.

 

[GravityHater]

and you don't have to worry about it ever again.

The only likely time this (color vision deficiency) might bite you is:

a) you go nordo, you misinterpret a light gun signal and then you tell the FAA that you couldn't see it
b) you have a wreck, and blame your inability to see the visual guidance system.

:both very rare indeed. If there was ever a problem ie in a), I would say I completely missed looking at the tower for a light (even if you did see one), you were 'too busy looking for traffic'.

 

[stearnst]

Count me as another one with a SODA. I have problems discerning the PAPI's/VASI's, although it really only seems to be hard to tell the difference during the daytime, the colors at night are much easier for me to tell apart.

Just for kicks, every time I go in for my medical (a month ago, most recently) I have them do the "color dot" test, just to see how I end up. I think I got like 7 of 21 or something like that, definitely not enough to pass. One time though, at the AME, they had a book that had shapes instead of numbers, I think there was a triangle, square, circle, a wavy line, and two wavy lines. For some reason, I think I got all but two of them...so for what it's worth, that one ended up going much better than any of the tests with the numbers.

 

[Medicryan]

Thanks for all the responses, guys. I know that it is not something that I should be too worried about. I just wanted to get everyone's take on it. I'm sure after a lot more flying, I can fly a perfect 3 degree glideslope without any lights just because I know what the picture should look like.

 

[Fred Rogers]

Thanks for all the responses, guys. I know that it is not something that I should be too worried about. I just wanted to get everyone's take on it. I'm sure after a lot more flying, I can fly a perfect 3 degree glideslope without any lights just because I know what the picture should look like.

that's what I'm talking about with compensating. I'm sure you'll be fine. You could mess up a light gun signal but your engine could also explode. I wouldn't loose any sleep over it. Cheers

 

[Northern Lights]

I've never worried about light gun signals. In an emergency, the only one you will probably recieve is green. Chances are that they are not going to give you any funky signals when the crap hits the fan. I'm sure that it's possible, but I wouldn't be too concerned about it. Also, once you get to two pilot crew, chances are the other guy will see the lights, if it's really that important.

I once had a total electrical failure in the pattern while I was instructing. I looked and never saw the lights. We talked to the tower later, and they throught that we did a fine job.

 

[328dude]

I don't know why everyone thinks that a SODA is a waiver.......It's not.

 

[Av8ing]

Falant

By the way, the Farnsworth lantern test is no longer accepted as a substitute for the Ishihara plates that most doctors use (the little book of round spots). I think that was changed last year.

There are other acceptable substitutes, and you should attempt them before you do the light gun test. I was unable to pass the Farnsworth lantern, so I did have to do the light gun test, and passed with no problem.

Good luck

Straight from the current FAA Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners(GAME)

Examination Techniques
Item 52. Color Vision

Acceptable Substitutes: The procedures for the Farnsworth Lantern or OPTEC 900 Color Vision Test; Keystone Orthoscope; Keystone Telebinocular; LKC Technologies, Inc., APT-5 Color Vision Tester; OPTEC 2000 Vision Tester (Model Nos. 2000PM, 2000PAME, and 2000PI); Titmus Vision Tester; Titmus II Vision Tester (Model Nos. TII and TIIS); and the Titmus 2 Vision Tester (Model Nos. T2A and T2S) accompany the instructions.

 

[Fred Rogers]

Straight from the current FAA Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners(GAME)

Examination Techniques
Item 52. Color Vision

Acceptable Substitutes: The procedures for the Farnsworth Lantern or OPTEC 900 Color Vision Test; Keystone Orthoscope; Keystone Telebinocular; LKC Technologies, Inc., APT-5 Color Vision Tester; OPTEC 2000 Vision Tester (Model Nos. 2000PM, 2000PAME, and 2000PI); Titmus Vision Tester; Titmus II Vision Tester (Model Nos. TII and TIIS); and the Titmus 2 Vision Tester (Model Nos. T2A and T2S) accompany the instructions.

Titmus... The model TII is actually far superior to the TIIS. ha ha you said tit

 

[zonker]

I've done the Farnsworth and have a 1st with no restrictions.

Something that makes me wonder about this is the FedEx 727 that crashed in TLH a few years ago. The FO crashed airplane because he couldn't see the PAPI's due to his color vision deficiency. Reading the report, my "condition" isn't as nearly severe as this person's was. But it does make me wonder if something like this might spur a change in first class medical standards, as that was one of the recommendations in the report. I carry loss of license of insurance for this very reason.

http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2004/AAR0402.pdf