colour weaknes
 

dear aviation friends,

i am have got colour weaknes. they found out at the amc.
it was a big shock for me becaus my entire education time was based on flying.
in holland i did the nigel anomaloscope and the lantern(5 coloured dots) and a fail both. the lanterntest was a close call but i didnt pass.
Can anyone tell me how i can get a class1 medical.
Are there more options for me?

USA is an oppertunity but the greencard is a problem.
Australia is an option but are you allowed to fly jets if you got the australian class one whitout an acceptable colour vison?

Please give me all the options that are possible.

thanks and greets from the netherlands,

chris:ok:

Whitelabel,

In Austrlalia if you do not meet the standard for colour vision your class 1 medical will be endorsed Up to CPL and for Australian airspace only.

I don't have the link handy but do a search for Dr Arthur Pape and the work he did in taking CASA to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and winning. He is also a colour defective pilot but had the balls to take the authrority with some very sound arguments. Result being a lot of us colour defective can now work as commercial pilots, obtain night and MECIR in Australia where before we were restricted to Pvt, Day VFR only. You still must meet the minimum standard though to obtain an ATPL.
The following link will give you a good insight into the colour test procedures here.

.CASA Designated Aviation Medical Examiners Handbook

A friend who is currently working in UK also has the same degree of colour deficiency as myself ie, can't pass jack schidt in the colour tests but does now have a JAR medical which allows him to fly IFR but only during daylight. Which seems a little silly to me given that the reduced visibility in crappy weather would be far more difficult in terms of obtaining any coloured visual cues, such as PAPI lighting, upon breaking out of cloud than flying on a clear star filled night

I got a friend in Oz who is colour blind and holds an Australian ATPL valid for Oz airspace only. He was flying (when I knew him) Bandeirantes out of Cairns.
You'll find Oz pretty good regarding colour defects because of the work and effort of Dr Arthur Pape.

as i said in my other post i have just failed my CAA colourvision test. I was told that i could get a restricted CPL but it would be restricted to day tine flying only.

As i understand it in both the US and austrailia it is much easier to get a full class 1 due to then doing SODAs which are proper tests instead of the hard clinical ones that the CAA uses. I am looking at my options at the moment and I am leaning towards going to austrailia to try and get a ATPL. I don't think getting employment with a CPL(R) would be very easy in this country. any advice/info welcome.

Whitelabel,

Have a look back in this forum. There was a very long thread going on a year or so ago on this very topic. Some people posted very good links and also some good anecdotes from their battles with the various authorities over this subject.
As a colourblind pilot myself, I feel for you. The road to getting your clean medical may be a long one, but there are loopholes for some if you can demonstrate your ability to see the colours required for flying. I persisted and now hold both Transport Canada and FAA unrestricted medicals. Good luck!

If you can't find the thread, I'll try and give you some of the info.

G'day all colour defective pilots,

I'm an Australian colour defective pilot. I havea little over 1000hours. I failed the Oz farnsworth lantern but passed the practical test ie at the airport. I've just been over the europeto try for a class 1, went to see Dr Kopp in Switzerland (He's the senior JAR eye expert), he prodeuced a lantern called the spectrolux lantern. It's not too bad. It consists of red, green and white lights in 2 different brightnesses. He shows you 24 combinations, 1 error and you fail. It seemed to me though that the colour is very similiar to that used at airports, ie no pale shades to try to fail those with a colour defiency. This spectrolux is vailid for all JAR medicals even though not every testing centre has one. If you pass this one, you can get a report and showit to any DAME etc.

Good luck to every one.