>> WARNING - another long post
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Class ones are quick and easy.. well kinda, here in NZ the whole system is decentralised, which means unlike the UK, you cant just mosie on down to Gatwick or wherever to get one done, you have to visit a different place for different tests (eg, hospital for hearing, radiology clinic for xrays, optician for eyes..)
My tests were spread out the course of a month, but givin some planning they could all be done in a week.. or if you're real keen a couple of days.
To give you and idea here are the things i had to have done, and times taken.
Eye exam - 45mins - very thorough
(Colour test done at other place was another 30mins long)
Hearing - 10mins
Xrays - 10mins
ECG - 20mins
Examination - 1hr
Here in NZ you can either choose to have the tests done by a DME or the AME. I had mine done with the DME, who sent it on to the AME who has the power to issue the medical. Of course if i had done the examination with the AME i would of had the medical straight away!.. but it took a week before i had the shiney piece of plastic in the mail box.
Here in NZ colour testing is a one off thing, never to be repeated in the course of your class 1 renewal. I of course have to inform the doc when i get it renewed that i have the deficiency, but all the same i have been told by the CAA that im sweet for life.
From the looks of your test it seems that your form of colour deficiency could be very similar to mine. I got all the reds every time, as did you, and for the both of us it was mostly the whites and greens we mucked up. One thing i noticed, while doing the tests, and in the end this helped me i believe, was that the dr always told me that the white light was an incandecent light.. meaning it appears with a tinge of yellow, and not florecent white like one might expect. With this knowledge i was easily able to pick out the whites and the greens, because the greens had no trace of yellow at all, and the whites were the ones with the slight yellow tinge.
Learning the ishihara was another thing i contemplated.. it was so easy to do, and no one would pick you up on it. I found a copy on the net which i used.. as more or less study, and realised that on a computer monitor i could see all the correct numbers, it was just under exam room conditions (prolly poor light, or my monitor's on the brink of exploding) that i failed (mind you it was only by 1). The advice of bluffing my way through it was givin to me by the lovely lady who took me flying for the first time on a 40min trial flight. She informed me of her friend who passed that way, and he's now flying the big shiney ones.
The problems with getting a NZ class 1, is that it might not be any good in the UK, as i have heard that JAA medicals are a lot stricter. I think that all NZ medicals and licences are good for use in NZ and in Australia because we are such good neighbouring buddies :P
It may be worthwhile contacting JAA and NZ CAA to ask them about this, coz really im not an expert
From my looking around and asking questions i gained a fairly good idea of what tests are the best, easiest, and fairest.
Ishihara is by far the hardest, and most unfair..
Holmes Wright lantern tests are next on the difficulty scale, although fair in that they test your ability to see navigation lights.
Farnsworth Lantern tests are next (and also acceptable by NZ CAA standards, although the nearest machine is in Melbourne, Australia)
The FAA in america issues a test where by you are taken to an airfield and asked to tell the colours of signal lights. A very fair and fitting test, and from what i hear next to no one fails this one!
The anomaloscope is a precision form of determining the degree of colour deficiency. Although i have never done the test, i hear that it consists of seeing the light spectrum through a device.. what you have to do to pass is beyond me!
No doubt you have visited the previous posts on colour deficiency
http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/For...ML/000048.html and will have visited
http://www.aopa.com.au/topics/medical/denison.htm
and
http://www.leftseat.com/colorvision.htm
I also have another australian site which tells of how one group managed to take the issue of colour deficiency to some form of disputes tribunal.. and won!
So if you want i can dig that address out for you and email it, as well as the online ishihara tests.
Australia and to a lesser extent NZ i think are commonly seen as being more relaxed on colour vision requirements.. unlike the UK which instead of becomming less stringent, is instead becoming more strict.
An interesting statement was sent to me by the CAA which stated (after requesting the removal of my endorsement):
"colour vision standards are likely to become less stringent with time (ICAO are developing testing procedures that should be universally adopted in the future)"..
There is hope for colour deficients yet!
Although young in age (age got nothing to do with it.. kev you are 37? .. retirement age is 63 or something now, you still have a good 25yrs to make it!), i too have the money problem. I myself nor my parents would be capable of supplying the necessary funds to get me a CPL so i could start a job, but luckily here in NZ the government has a studen loan scheme. I am not sure if this exists in the UK, but here anyone, at any age (must be a resident of NZ of course.. but that aint hard to do! .. they accept anyone!), can attend a NZ Qualifications Authority approved learning institute, and have the course fee's and a living allowance paid for by the government in the form of a loan, to be repaid when it is possible.
I am currently doing Massey University's Bachelor of Aviation, which will see me with CPL, Frozen ATPL, 220hrs, and all the bobs and whistles that go with it (IR, Gas Turbine Rating.. etc). All of this for NZ$60k over 3yrs (living costs exluded).
The Student loan scheme gives us 0% interest while we are students, and once we finish also until we earn over a certain amount a year, then we must start paying it back. The current huge loophole in the system is that people can choose to leave the country, and obtain residence somewhere else, not having to pay the loan back. But the govt. is currently working on ways to prevent this, or getting the money paid from overseas loanees.
Sorry this post is so long and kinda just everywhere.. its hard to keep track of what your typing sometimes. All i can say is keep goin! .. i know exactly what it's like to have your hopes and dreams dashed, but im glad that i didn't give up, and its good to see that neither are you.
Best of luck to Kev! If i can get past all the medical shinanigans anyone can
.. just dont give up!
If you want gimme an email, i can try and get some info from CAA here if you want.
laters
SPEED!