Here is a copy of my Post from 12th January, better act fast guys cause if you agreed with my take on tyhe situation time is clearly running out for us all in respect of legal challenge.
I would suspect many of the readers of this forum are in a similar situation to me, waiting patiently for the new CAD / PAPI tests to be released by City Uni for the CAA to use. It can't come quick enough.
I thought it would be useful to just recap on the situation as I see it, these are the facts:
International aviation is governed by the ICAO and the Air Navigation Order which calls for Colour Vision sufficient for the safe performance of duties. Colour Vision requirements from country to country vary widely despite the fact that everyone has access to the same research and the same old researchers keep cropping up again and again.
The CAA have publically announced that they suspect (which really means know) they are excluding people on the basis of out of date tests and have commissioned City University to develop a new test which we eagerly await. It is the intention to get this test approved by the ICAO and have this new test introduced worldwide.
The DRC used to have the following question on their website, but now it has been removed:
Q:
I have been refused a professional pilot's licence because I have defective colour vision. I have passed certain tests that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) set but was unable to distinguish between red and green. Is the CAA discriminating against me by refusing to give me a licence?
A:
The CAA is a professional qualification body and has a duty not to treat people less favourably for reasons relating to their disability. However, it is likely that it will be justified in not awarding a licence to you if the ability to distinguish between red and green is a competence standard which is required to be a professional pilot.
Let me now offer my take on the situation, some will maybe see this as a conspiracy theory.
The CAA know they are discriminating as this has been alluded to by some of the medics, this is a bigger political issue than many people can appreciate because I suspect there may have been pressure from the DRC or some other government agency to do something about it in the face of changing discriminatory legislation both in this country and in Europe as a whole. This is not confirmed to colour vision, there seems lately to have been a flurry of watering down of the medical requirements relating to eyesight, medical conditions etc. Have the CAA sympathetically done this off their own back or has their been under pressure from a more 'senior' authority not to exclude people unless they can demonstrate evidence to back up their position 100%
You will notice the question that WAS posted on the DRC website, the question has been answered and the answer is 100% correct given the question asked. Let me ask the question another way:
Q:
I have been refused a professional pilot's licence by the UK CAA because I have defective colour vision. I am able to go to the United States of America and I am able to gain a Professional Pilots licence that enables me to fly in airspace, and land at airports in FAA N registered commercial aircraft at destinations all over the world including the UK. Exactly the same tests are used in both countries however each country has a significantly different 'pass' criteria. Both the FAA and the CAA have the same duty to set competence standards for pilots so that the requirements of the Air Navigation Order are met (ie colour perception for the safe performance of airman duties). Is the CAA, by setting medical requirements higher than in other parts of the world discriminating against me by refusing to give me a licence?
A:
?????????
The original answer was quite correct in stating that the 'CAA is a professional qualification body and has a duty not to treat people less favourably for reasons relating to their disability'. The fact is they are setting competency standards that are, in some cases way in excess those required in other parts of the world and therefore they are discriminating against people who want to fly in UK registered aircraft, albeit the people are from different parts of the world.
There is no arguing that the CAA do a good, professional job at enforcing the rules that are in force, but they as a professional organisation also have a duty to ensure that rules set are the safe minimum so as not to discriminate against ANYBODY!!! The FAA as an example have more relaxed rules relating to colour vision and by definition considers the safe minimum to be much lower than our guys at the UK CAA.
SO here is my rather cynical view.
The new test is being introduced because many recognise that the old tests are no longer appropriate and also to passify colour defectives and give them hope, they say the standard will be reviewed and relaxed if appropriate but there is no guarantee of this. I honestly hope it does. Meantime we wait patiently doing nothing and keeping the status quo.
In the background however there are wishes to allow the test to receive ICAO approval and it's use introduced worldwide as THE international colour vision standard. This test is backed up by evidence which no doubt will be authoritive and will be difficult to challenge. No longer will pilots have the opportunity to go down the FAA route if they fail a JAA medical cause all the standards will be the same, and guess what they used the toughest standards in the world to validate the new test!!!
Neither will the CAA be at risk from future claims of discrimination on the basis that it will not be possible to say that the CAA is treating people less favorably than the aviation authorities over the world, we will just be met with the answer this person has been excluded on the basis of the international competency standard for colour vision which is the same all around the world and this is quite legitimate.
SO, Problem solved......which problem? I hear you ask. Get a fair test that does not unnecessarily exclude colour defectives or protect the CAA from claims of discrimination?
Which is correct, only YOU CAN DECIDE!!!