GiJoe - the letter I have here is dated October 1995 (yes, I've been at this for YEARS :-( ) ...and it states 'Although there is technically no restriction on the number of times somebody can attempt the test, colour vision is a static condition, and if somebody fails it once they will fail it again.' - 'nuff said ?
Incidentally, for those interested in the Holmes-Wright test, the letter also states 'The standard lantern test for a class 1 certificate for professional flying is the Holmes Wright. The test for private flying is the Giles Archer. We require pilots to correctly identify signal red, signal green and white using the large and medium apertures at a distance of six metres.'
Speed Racer, could you post / email the site with the online Ishihara tests please ? I have checked out all the other links you mentioned, and found them very interesting, despite almost losing all of my eyesight in reading the entire Denison case ! :-)
(which, incidentally, *might* answer my question on the numbers on the HW lantern test - it mentions a 'Type 2 red is a deep red')
Re: the NZ Student Loan Scheme, we have a similar thing here, called the 'Career Development Loan', however, in typical British short-sightedness, it is limited to an absolute maximum of 8,000 UK Pounds ($27,000 NZ). Tight b*stards !
As far as the software testing thing goes, I have a demo version of something called 'TwoDocs Colortest' which is very interesting for playing about with, though it does say 'The Demo version does not diagnose' - so presumeably, the proper version does. Seeing as I can find no reference to the company anymore, I can only presume they have ceased trading, so if anyone wants a copy, just let me know. Meantime, I will see if I can track down a pukka version somewhere.
My immediate plan of action is to build myself / acquire a Holmes-Wright lantern to play with. I expect they will cost a zillion bucks to buy, so I'll probably build an el-cheapo version. I *need* to beat the damn thing, nothing to do with flying mind you... I just need to beat it ! ;-)
...and I will.
Kev.