Finally for tonight, thanks to the few who did respond to one of my earlier posts, inviting them to share with me their stories of succeeding in the upper levels of aviation, notwithstanding their colour vision. In brief, I am attempting to create a database of pilots who, through whatever means, have succeeded in passing or in bypassing the colour perceptions standard. In Australia, we do have a significant cohort of colour defective pilots engaged in sophisticated RPT operations, in fully EFIS equipped aircraft, and undergoing the standard battery of check and training tests that all such pilots undergo at very regular intervals. The interesting thing is that they appear (anecdotally) to be indistinguishable in terms of performance from their colour normal peers. The reason that this is so, is that colour is NOT USED in the way that protagonists would have you believe in providing safety essential information to ANY PILOT.
I mentioned the database earlier. It is important that to progress the case for colour defective pilots or wannabee pilots, we start to build up some real and empirical evidence as to their performance, and the only way to do this is to conduct research in which both colour defective and colour normal pilots are measured in their performance proficiency and safety in AVIATION REALISTIC TASKS, not in the multitudes of colour vision tests and quazi colour vision test masquerading as "experiments" that keep surfacing to try to bamboozle the real issue. There are enough colour vision tests NOW, and producing more will solve nothing for either regulators or colour defective pilots. WE ARE ALL COLOUR DEFECTIVE, and we don't need more colour vision tests, no matter what the claimed advantage of one over the other.
In my search for people to volunteer their stories to me I need more detail than merely stating what jets they fly and how they managed to side step the standard. That is not useful information. I need, if known, the history of the colour perception tests attempted and failed, the diagnosis of the defect, again, if known, and a brief but accurate flying CV. Naturally, all information will be treated in the strictest confidence. I submit my past record of activism in the colour perception world as proof of that. So if anyone out there would like to contact me, even tentativley, I would love to hear from you.
Arthur Pape