Shunter

You'll have severe difficulty locating any of these ancient lanterns outside Gatwick. I would strongly recommend reading the rather long colour vision thread, as it contains many details on the lantern tests, things you need to know that the CAA won't tell you when you take the test etc...

I, for example also fail a couple of the Ishihara plates. I went on to fail both the lanterns at Gatwick, by a whisker. 2 years later I passed the Spectrolux in Zurich (another approved JAR test) and I'm now unrestricted. It's a very individual thing - some pass easily, some don't. What's universal however is that the tests are all completely irrelevant bollocks. Even the CAA has admitted they are not fit for purpose.

2close

FlyEJF,

Dr Ian Perry has (or did have) a Holmes-Wright Type A Lantern Test.

http://www.ianperry.com/drperry.html

Although Dr Perry has a very impressive resume, is obviously a leading expert in the area of aeromedicine and advises the CAA on aeromedical matters, the CAA's optometrist will not accept the results of any H-W test conducted by Dr Perry as he "can not be certain that the tests have been conducted in accordance with JAA protocols".

Absolutely laughable!!!

Shunter

It's about £30 for the lantern tests at Gatwick. I really would advise you to read back through this thread though and take others' experience onboard. The CAA won't tell you for example that whilst the Holmes Wright lantern has three colours (red/green/white), and they are displayed in pairs which you have to identify, that they actually change hue (shade), so you can have a dull white, a light green etc etc...

Therefore, when shown say a dark green and a very light green during the test, you might say "green, white", because logic dictates they are different and you've been told no different.

Knowing exactly what you're about to undertake is the test half passed already... take my word for it, I've been there. Many times

Need money

Once you have passed the colour test - are they ever retested ?

As a child (ie: about 25 years ago !!) - I was told I was red green deificient, however - I have also recently obtained a JAA Class 1 having passed the Ishihara test - however - I am worried that I may slip up at any point on a renewal. Having committed to expensive training I would hate to have the rug pulled from under me at a later date.

Thoughts ??

mickdundee

Thanks to everyone for there comments,my head is hurting from all the information overload!!! I've decided that i'm not going to let it get me down. I'm going to Gatwick to do the lantern test and IF i don't pass...i'll keep fighting. I want to be a CPL(h) and i'll try my hardest to get there.

Wish me luck!

P.S..Good luck to everyone else in the same boat

colourblindgeek

Hawk - I hope your comment was in jest regarding Windforce putting the wording in blue?

As far as a I know - all of us CVD's will be able to read it just fine.

It is still just ishihara plates and lantern tests that cause us the problems - not runway lights, papi lights, signal gun lights and certainly not light blue/green text on a beige background.

colourblindgeek

2Close - that is the funniest reply ever!

You have just made my day! I nearly wet myself!

danielm

Hi Ian,
My name is Daniel and i'm colorblind too. I'm from argentina and unfortunately in my country there's only ishihara plates and a farnsworth lantern with green, red, and yellow colors. could it be this way? different from the other ones?
Anyway, i would like to ask you where is located the City University you mensioned about because i would like to go.
Thank you so much,
Daniel.

danielm

Thanks! To be honest I found this strange farnsworth lantern quite difficult. Whatsmore, I think it was taken wrong because was only once run and in daylight conditions. The thing is that in my country there's only this test allowed as an alternative (and it's even a different from the standards!!); I can't request the signal test.

Cookie88

Hi guys..jus wan to say that, I have passed the lantern test at my my local AMC. I m really so happy!!.. I was diagnose as Color Blind when i was a student and that really crash all my hopes and limit my career choices.. i wasnt told by any nurses or doctor that there are alternate test that i could take to determine my color perception.

happen to have found this site recently and the information here are so good, that it gave me hope to be a pilot again.. i start read from the 1st thread since year 2000 to now..and immediately book a test at my local AMC

unlike the different lantern test discuss at this thread, i was being tested on the Edridge-Green Lantern and breeze through it without any difficulties. The conductor was surprised that I was so confident with my answers compare to earlier Ishara test.

I now so happy. It is as though I am finally proven innocent after being sentenced for crime that i did not commit..

Thanks you guys for this lovely thread..

CVD No more

2close

Well done, Cookie88,

Where are you from then?

What country uses the Edridge-Green Lantern Test? That is a very old bit of kit!

Shunter

I was just wondering that myself. You could probably make up an obscure lantern name and noone would know any different. I might steal the card-swipe (red/yellow/green LEDs) from the office door at work and call it the anal-shunter lantern; would probably be just as relevant to demonstrable aviation colour vision testing as any other lantern...

2close

Shunter,

You're lucky you passed the Spectrolux otherwise you'd never have got into work...good grief, all them colours on one door security system. Seems a bit complicated. Mine's a lot simpler; it's black and brown, called Killer and passes as a psychotic, manic, rabid Doberman with a personality disorder

The E-G Test was a 1920 Test so don't be surprised if it's still in use as the be all, end all for some countries

TelBoy

Hi All, I have the following address for a Spectrolux test in Spiez

Augenpraxis Spiez
Thunstrasse 2
3700 Spiez
Switzerland
+41 33 654 70 20

However I have tried emailing them and phoning. The phone just gives a recorded message and I don't speak German. Can anyone help - have they moved, or changed numbers etc??

Thanks in advance.

sbfly

Hi Guys,

I have read with great interest this CVD thread and I have a theoretical question....

I notice earlier in this thread (around pg 28). 'NeedMoney' suggests buying the Ishihara test book (to get your confidence up!!) and also mentions that he passed the Ishihara at LGW..... I had an optician suggest to me a while ago, after failing the Ishihara, that could 'learn' the plates.... I also notice earlier in this thread, someone mentions CVD pilots who have 'slipped through the net'...

So, I'm interested in knowing everyone's thoughts on 'learning' the Ishihara before the Class 1 med.

(NB. each plate has a small number printed on it corresponding to the plate number)

bucks

Just to update, i received cross linking yesterday morning and i am defineltly glad i have done so. The doctor also performed a small bit of laser surgery on the eye as the corneal thickness was within limits so hopefully that will improve the eyesight a bit, although my primary goal was to stop the progression so anything else will be a bonus.

Blues&twos

Great news, Bucks - wish it had been available when I had to get mine treated. ( Following corneal grafting I have 6/6 or 6/5 on a good day corrected with glasses, but I've been told that was more luck than judgement!)

Best of luck with the sight tests!!

bucks

Hey QNH78,

The procedure wasnt painful at all.

You start off in the "pre-op" room where they run through what they are about to do and give you some local anesthetic eye drops. Once in the theatre you basically just lie down and relax.

The other eye is covered and you focus the eye which is being worked on at a light and the doc begins to remove to protective layer on the eye.

Drops are added for 30 minutes, then you get of the bed and they check to see if they have penetrated the cornea, then its back onto the bed and more drops are added for another 30 min along with a UV light.

You will have a clear eye cover for the day of the treatment and this must be worn while sleeping for the next week. You also will have to add drops 4 times a day for the next week or two.

My eye was sore and irritating the evening of the procedure but they will give you pain killers etc.. to ease the discomfort.

gsportcars

Hi,
I have just joine the site and felt that I had to make my first post in this thread for obvious reasons...... Yes I am colour deficient (duetanomalous) and I am trying to commence training for my ATPL.
My personal experience so far is as follows....

I have known I am CVD for a long time but never thought anything of it until now. After finding out the so called 'standards' required with regards to CVD to pass the class one medical, I decided to get an eye test done.
I did a quick 4 plate online sample of the ishihara which told me what I already knew, that I was colour deficient. I spoke to several opticians to see if I could do a Farnsworth Lantern test but no where used this test. I did get a full eye test carried out anyway including the Ishihara test.
The test that I was administered from a book was the same test that is in this link from earlier in this thread
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/teares/gktvc/vc...htm#Background

I was diagnosed as a strong duetanope which I was told was "quite severe" He even commented that I could probably only make the different coloured road traffic lights because I would know that the red is at the top and green at the bottom etc etc. Obviously I knew this wasn't the case and I can see the red amber and green with no difficulties at all.
Needless to say I was stunned and felt more miserable than I care to remember. I had always thought I was only mildly colour deficient as it had never caused any issue for me before.

I now know after finding that link above that the test was administered completely wrong. At the time I was only shown the first 15 plates. As the explanations are given in the link I realise that the first 15 plates only determine if you are colour deficient or not and give no indication as to how strong or mild your deficiency is. After completeing all the plates several times on different moniters and with colour normal individuals present to clarify I have "self diagnosed" myself as being only mildly colour deficient. Please have a look at the link and do the test if you don't believe me.

This has infuriated me and I feel like going back to the opticians to shuv his test somewhere 'severely' uncomfortable.

I know I won't pass the ishihara test but I thought there was no chance of me ever passing any other colour test after that ill-diagnosis. Today I am quite a bit more confident.

Another badly administered test that I took was the Giles lantern test. After phoning around for about 3 days looking for the Farnsworth Lantern test (as stated on the JAA medical website), I finally found someone who had it. Before doing this I had to go through the usual standard eye test again and I was also given the city university test which I failed.
So... out came the farnsworth lantern test eventually....It was make or break time or so I thought. I was quitely confident but still had doubts as to how the test worked.
For this reason I asked the examiner two quick questions before we started. First I asked, "the only colours used in this test are green, white and red, right?" quickly followed by, "are there varying colour intensities for each colour or is it simply the one shade of each colour that is used thoughout?"
The collective answer I got before the test commenced was "well lets see then!"

Anyway, none the wiser we started the test. I now know the exact colours that I was shown so I will comment with this in mind.
First up was a green which I answered correctly
second was a paler green, which I also got right
then it was white to which I answered green. The reason for this is that it wasn't a pure white but a dirty off white. After being told a week earlier that I was severely colour blind I had been overcompensating and guessing the colour as green even though I couldn't see any green.
Fourth light was clearly red followed by a brighter red/amber which I answered as red which was correct. after that was a very bright amber. I also answered this as red for the simple reason that I have been told that there is only red, green and white in the farnsworth lantern test and it was definately not green or white. I failed this test too.

The examiner seemed somewhat amazed at my answers which is understandable as of course this wasn't the farnsworth test at all but the Giles Lantern test which also includes yellow.
The only thing I could gather from taking this lantern test was that the examiner seemed to treat me as a novelty and wanted to catch me out on each test for what could only be described as for personal entertainment at my deficiency.
At the end of this I got told that I had little to no hope of passing any other colour vision test and was advised to basically stop wasting my own time and give up.

I am still currently trying to find someone who has a genuine Farnsworth Lantern test for me to try and I will be bringing along the correct method to perform the test and getting the examiner to follow it thouroughly. I am also looking into alternatives if this doesn't work.
Again the ugly situation arises that I am more than confident and have read endless research that CVD does not affect a persons ability to fly safely in any way at all but nevertheless the JAA can't recognise this so the silly tests set out must still be passed.

I have found this thread alone and also Part 1 of the thread a huge help and I am still trawling through the posts in the search for the illusive 'ultimate solution' to this ridiculous standard.
I have to thank everybody who has posted here for their help and advice and also for making me realise how common and widespread this issue is. I no longer feel isolated or as if I am fighting a losing battle and I now have much more confidence, determination and hope that I can see this through. I will post my progress as others have done and will gladly help in any small way I can.
Thanks,
Gav.

BTW, please excuse the spelling and typos..

Shunter

Sorry to hear you're having a hard time of it, but I'd be interested to see where you got the lantern information from. The Farnsworth and Giles Archer lanterns are NOT accepted by JAA. The 4 tests accepted are Holmes/Wright, Spectrolux, Beynes and Nagel Anomoloscope.

The Holmes/Wright and Beynes are available at Gatwick, the Nagel at City University, and several Specs are in Switzerland and Germany. There may be others in the UK (there's at least 2 Holmes/Wright lanterns outside the CAA), but they're rare as hens' teeth.