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.
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