The FAA revealed to Aviation Medical Examiners (AMEs) in an educational session today it will be making changes on January 1, 2025 to color-vision testing “to improve safety.” Dr. Richard Kaplan, an AME, pilot, and flight instructor, who is also color-blind, attended the online session. He told AVweb, “The longstanding Ishihara color testing book will no longer be permitted.”
This is long overdue, since the Ishihara is pretty useless unless it’s done under exactly the same conditions every time, and if I’m understanding the FAA response to Avweb correctly, dropping the requirement for a new color vision test every time is also significant progress, since color vision usually doesn’t change appreciably, so the old/current requirements are wasting a lot of time and probably generating more than a few false positives if the Ishihara was used incorrectly.
This is also great for pilots who use alternate tests that may not be easily available in their areas. I have a former student who had to come to Phoenix for a color vision test from the midwest every year.
A huge hassle and undue stress for a static condition!
So… is the FAA going to provide color-calibrated displays to proctor these tests on? Enforce the monitor is warmed up and recalibrated periodically? I’d hate to be the guy who’s doc had a 15 year old TN display with color so bad it looked like an Andy Worhal painting.
Seriously, this is important.
At least with printed materials they can make sure they’re correct when created. Even if they do need to be replaced periodically.
The good-existing pilots who passed a color test or have a waiver are grandfathered
the bad:-new applicants have to pass one of 3 computerized vision tests that most AMEs don’t have .If they fail in the past they had a night restriction or cannot fly by light gun signals now they are going to get issued only a class 3 medical with the restriction for daytime VFR ONLY!
I also had trouble with that outdated testing. One examiner flagged me on it, took away my night flying abilities, and sent everything into the FAA accordingly. I had to go through hell to rectify everything.
The examiner didn’t tell me that there’s other testing methods out there, other than the Isiharia format. I had to find one through an eye doctor, pass their test, resubmit everything, and get my night flying restrictions removed.
A Wise decision, even more as the Ishihara test cartoons for color blindness, daltonism or dyschromatopsia, cost a lot of money.
Many won’t believe this, but the ‘Szondi test’, providing some info about personality features, exists in automated version in the web, and is reliable enough.
PMID 9881538 Is also of interest.
Blessings +
Are you seriously implying the Szondi test is reliable? I suggest not, anytime you cannot empirically correlate the data the entire test becomes an exercise in ego building for those who demand to be the gate keepers of the results. Hence why the test is now computerized and empirically driven.
I have never heard of anyone suddenly developing color blindness unless accompanied by some other more serious condition, such as cataracts or macular degeneration, yet after year I have to take a color blindness test to pass the FAA medical.
That was my thought as well. Monitors also degrade over time; how much and at rate depends a lot of the specific model. So is the FAA also mandating certain brands/models? If so, that will add to the cost. If not, then there will still be plenty of invalid results leading to unnecessary deferrals.
“Although it’s unusual, it is possible to become colour blind later in life through different diseases or eye conditions. These diseases can damage the optic nerve or the retina of the eye and lead to acquired colour blindness, also known as acquired colour vision deficiency” Also consideration should be made that perhaps the person has been on the verge of colour blindness over time and this is the year the threshold was crossed. WOuld be far better to have an ophthalmologist comment on this.
52 years ago at the ripe age of 18 I went for my first FAA medical while pursuing my private certificate at TLH. At that point I had no inkling I had any color vision problems at all and certainly no problem delineating different colors in the environment. I’d never taken the Ishihara test, so I had no idea what to expect. I was a little shocked when I had trouble picking out numbers and letters in the book as the examiner turned the pages. As a result, I failed the test. I don’t know if it was standard procedure at that point or I just had a nice AME, but he offered to take me out to the approach end of RWY 27 at TLH and have the tower shoot light guns at me. I got 99 out of 100 correct. I think I missed one out of boredom? Regardless, I got my color vision waiver, and maintained it for all these years. I got a couple of odd looks when I pulled it out for medical exams along the years, but nobody ever questioned it.
Color vision testing is a ridiculous exercise. Light gun signals are almost impossible to see, and to deny someone on this basis is not a safety measure; it is an antiquated criterion which serves only to increase administrative burden and cost.
I have a letter of demonstrated ability where I demonstrated the ability to interpret light gun signals from the control tower at some distance. I am assuming this will still be available.
I’ve found them rather easy to see at night. During the day is a bit more difficult, but not impossible.
However, color is used for more than just the light gun signals. For instance, a common red/green colorblindness means the nav lights on aircraft won’t serve their purpose for such a pilot. Chart coloring also would be affected.
So there are actually a number of reasons why colorblindedness should be tested for. But remember that it’s not necessarily disqualifying; one can still demonstrate that they can still operate fine (SODA).
It’s worth noting that FAA was dragged, reluctantly, into this by the NTSB’s highly questionable interpretation of the causes of an air carrier accident 25 years ago. To her great credit, Federal Air Surgeon Dr. Susan Northrup delayed this change until she was assured it would have as little impact as possible. All currently certified pilots, including those with SODA’s or Letters of Eligibility will be grandfathered, and will not have to take these new tests. The new tests will primarily be one-and-done for new applicants.
Of the three, two are very expensive - $5000 and nearly $10,000 respectively. But the Waggoner test is an app that can be downloaded to an iPad or Android tablet, and the $30/month subscription, while annoying, is not prohibitive.
Most AMEs believe that the old system - any of the books or devices, backed up with a light gun test from the tower, were sufficient. But the NTSB was relentless in their insistence that FAA “do something,” so, with as little impact as possible, they have.
As an AFROTC cadet at FSU in 1972, I went up to Moody AFB for my first AF physical and flunked the Ishihara test (the greenish,grayish, mauve pages) and had to take an additional colored light test. Never knew I had a color problem.
Passed it and never looked back. Did my FIP training at TLH.