Those of you with "defective" color vision might be heartened by this story:
I flunked the color vision test (problems with red/green) when I first got my private in 1969. Did a light gun test with the local FAA folks, passed without a problem, got a SODA.
After graduating college, I decided to take a shot at becoming an Air Force pilot. They sent me to Willams AFB for a flight physical. Told 'em about the color vision problem, they tested me, I flunked-- and they wouldn't accept my SODA as a substitute.
However, they said they had a couple of alternative tests I could try. One of them was the Farnsworth Lantern. I "passed" it, but only with a lot of hinting and help from the airman giving me the test. I specifically asked if I'd have to pass the test every year, because I knew I couldn't-- they said no, since color vision never changes, the fact that I'd passed the Farnsworth would go into the record and I'd never have to take it again.
Went off to Lackland to OTS in fall of '72, just as the war was winding down. The Air Force decided they had too many pilots in the pipeline, so thirty days in, they tightened up the rules and we all got flight physicals again. Although we'd all passed one before enlistment, literally half of us (nine, in my flight of eighteen cadets) flunked the physical for one reason or another. One guy, it was because he was (still) allergic to eggs, which was a new entry to the "disqualifying conditions" list. Me, it was because they insisted on giving me the Farnsworth Lantern test again-- and without that friendly airman, I wasn't able to pass it.
So, I'm back on the street looking for work, and apply to be an air traffic controller. In the process, of course, color vision comes up-- and I'm told that my SODA is unacceptable, applicants must have normal color vision. I flunk all the tests the FAA has available. I ask if the fact that I once passed the Farnsworth Lantern had any bearing-- they say yes, if I can document that, they'll accept it.
I contact the Air Force, get a copy of the results from the time I "passed" the test, give 'em to the FAA-- and get hired. A year in, they send me for my annual physical, I flunk the color vision test-- and they tell me that the fact that I once passed the Farnsworth Lantern test is no longer an acceptable substitute.
HOWEVER, they tell me that the "normal color vision" requirement only applies to new hires-- since I'm already in, if I can pass a light gun test and get a SODA, that will work. I reach into my pocket and pull out the SODA from when I got my private-- and it got me through not only that physical, but every physical for the next 25 years with the FAA.
So, I owe my career (and the comfy early retirement I currently enjoy) to some unknown airman who helped me cheat on the Farnsworth Lantern test in 1972. And the fact that my "defective" color vision hasn't had the slightest effect on my performance as a pilot for the last 45 years, or on my performance as a controller for the 25 years I was with the FAA (most of that at O'Hare, and including nine TDY's working by "color and type" at Oshkosh) tells me that the feds would do well to reevaluate their whole outlook on the subject.
