Chris,
I can't speak for the idiosyncrasies of other JAA states but certainly in the UK, even with a CVD you CAN hold both a CPL and IR with a deviation on your medical restricting you to daytime flying and No Public Transport. But you can fly IFR and you can do some forms of aerial work.
I have never had any problems in actual flight conditions, with runway / taxiway lights, VASI, PAPI, tower signals or recognising aircraft colour lights but with current standards I am unable to obtain an unrestricted JAA Class 1 medical. That is not the fault of the CAA, they merely apply the standards that have been applied by JAA - it is the standards that need to be questioned.
It is very easy to design and use an unrealistic test that will classify people as 'Colour Unsafe'; what is needed is an objective test that is based on practical situations and what could be more real than a test at night in actual flight conditions. However, I accept that it may not always be pratical to test under actual flight conditions but I do not believe for one second that, in this day and age it would not be possible to create such conditions in a purpose built simulator. What prevents that? Simple, cost. Why should the powers that be go to the time, effort and expense of creating such a beast when they have an inexhaustible supply of non-CVD wannabees ready to fill the vacancies?
What are the discussions between JAA and FAA about? I don't know (I am not a mole or any other form of nocturnal mammal.....as a CVD I'm not allowed to be, even the rodent world has its standards!) but if its simply a case of accepting a common standard I wonder which way the pendulum will swing. Will the FAA move towards the more stringent testing standards of the JAA or will JAA swing towards the FAA standards? Only time will tell but I wonder whether the NTSB's recommendations following the Tallahassee incident will have any bearing on the decision.
The next question is, assuming the FAA went for the JAA standards, how would the decision affect current pilots? Would grandfather rights be transferred or would all FAA Lantern Test / SODA holders be required to retake the new test - what sort of an impact would that have? I have no idea of the actual figures involved but if the FAA went for the more stringent testing and required all Lantern / SODA holders to take the new test, given that 1 in 12 Caucasian males is CVD then potentially the USA could stand to lose as many as 8% of its pilot force overnight (assuming pilot numbers follow population trends) and I don't think that is going to happen. And if the standards went the other way, would that mean that holders of unrestricted FAA medicals would automatically qualify for unrestricted JAA medicals?
I think the reality is that we will be looking at some form of new test, as designed by City University, being adopted on both sides of the pond but as for existing CVD pilots with deviations or unrestricted medicals, who knows what the future will hold?
I suppose it's a case of 'watch this space' but I for one will not be holding my breath.
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