Cabin Crew if Colour Blind??

[sam.lk7]

hi everyone,

I recently have turned 18 and am ready to start applying to airlines ( i am in western australia), i have been proven to have a mild colour vision deficiency, does anyone know if this will affect my chances of gaining cabin crew employment with QF or DJ (virgin blue) or any other airline for that matter? Any help would be great...

guys i am really scared.

SLK

[blueloo]

Not sure on what the requirements for the airlines are, but, why not visit (if you havent) an aviation opthamologist and get their opinion.

[indamiddle]

no probs re being f/a with colour blindness

[sam.lk7]

Hi indamiddle

thanks for your post before

just wondering, are you definitely sure that airlines do not care about colour vision in cabin crew? is it in the medicals?

i really would appreciate your help as your reply will most likely make-or-break my career...


thanks

SLK

[capt.cynical]

Sam,
With the continuing decline in pay and conditions for CC the only qualification you will need is a PULSE.

[indamiddle]

capt cynical is not far off the mark.
i am partially colour blind, found out at the f/a interview!.... no problems.
a mate in my training school sees black, white and grey.
the only colours we deal with are o/head indicator lights which are easily memorised plus they are supplemented by chimes...more than one chime... grab an extinguisher.
meal choices have different coloured lids and even if u make a mistake most of the punters can't tell the difference. this i know from my own stuffups

[Kickatinalong]

Sam

You can sit up the front and still be colour blind I cannot see why it would make a difference being a tucker chucker. Indamiddle has the right idea we punters cannot tell the diff.
Kickatinalong.

[sam.lk7]

@ indamiddle

thanks for your advice, just out of curiousity which airline do you work for? (if you dont mind saying of course), what did the medical examiner say when they found out you were colourblind? how strict are they?

sorry, i just have soo many questions regarding the matter

please help in anyway possible

SLK

[sam.lk7]

@Kickatinalong

I have tried to get a class 1 medical and have failed because i am colourblind, so yeh, i guess you cantt sit up front if colourblind...

SLK

[sam.lk7]

and if anyone else can help me with this, that would be great

SLK

[Bedder believeit]

There's colour blind, and there's colour blind. I have a mild deficiency but that hasn't stopped me from being an ATC in three different countries (Oz, UAE and Hong Kong) over the last 38 years. One is trained from almost day one (as a child) to put a certain name to what one is seeing, it may differ slightly from what a normally sighted person is seeing, but so what. Red is red is red as long as all in the group have been told that "that is red". I have little hope of passing the more complex "Ishihara" colour plates, but have no trouble with lantern tests. Most aviation authorities will go to the lantern test as a back up if you can't pass the colour deficiency plates.

[Islander Jock]

sam.lk7

have tried to get a class 1 medical and have failed because i am colourblind, so yeh, i guess you cantt sit up front if colourblind... Today 22:14

I think you will find your medical is stamped "Valid in Australian Airspace only up to CPL" Like mine Unless things have changed over the past couple of years, if you pass either a farnsworth lantern or practical tower light gun test, this restriction can be removed.

[sam.lk7]

hey guys just reminding you that this would be for CABIN crew not FLIGHTDECK crew....

thanks heaps rockers!

SLK

[RENURPP]

I guess it could be a problem working out which is the red and which is the white wine, or if some one asked for a "green can" and you give them a Carlton draught.

[sam.lk7]

no seriously guys...
can you or cant you?

[Islander Jock]

it could be a problem working out which is the red and which is the white wine

Nah never had that problem.
Although at the Aust Airports Assn conference last November the CASA lighting guru explained why the green taxiway lights had to be a specific shade of green and it was because colour defective pilots are allowed to fly - shock horror!!!. I think Perth Airport had put in new lights that were the wrong type and had to replace them.
I was nearly going to ask "What you mean there are green lights on the taxiways?"

[Monopole]

sam.lk7,

It has now been 6 1/2 weeks since you first asked your question here on Pprune and I am just curious to see if you have even bothered to ring any of the airlines to ask them directly.

I have tried to get a class 1 medical and have failed because i am colourblind, so yeh, i guess you cantt sit up front if colourblind...

I also take it that your initial ambition was to become flight crew before you discovered that you were colour blind. Why give up so easy? I am not strickly colour blind, but have a colour deficiency and still hold an Aus ATPL. I failed the little dotty book thingy, failed the Lantern test and spent the entire day at a university doing other various test. In the end all I had to demonstrate was that I could tell the difference between red and white on a papi (they were not as common then as they are now), and tell the differance between white, red and green from the tower while they flashed the gun at me and a CFI was standing next to me with a telephone call to the tower.

You need to show dedication from the begining mate otherwise you will not get very far at all in this industry.

[Bullethead]

G'day Sam,

Why don't you ring up the medical department of the airline in which you're interested and ask them? If it's not a problem then that's great for you and if it is a problem then at least you've found out for sure and can then make other plans. Beats asking on this forum and getting no definitive answer.

Regards,
BH.

[sam.lk7]

thanks guys, but how would i find the phone number for the medical department of say, virgin blue?

[Monopole]

oh how determined you are