Color Vision

Wm226 · July 16th, 2002, 16:35

I have a question fo you guys regarding color vision.

Lets say you took the Farnsworth lantern test and hold a First Class Medical Certificate. What will happen if you are invited to an airline medical physical (after the interview) and they administer a conventional color vision test? Will they exempt you from taking that color vision test because you have passed the Farnsworth lantern test? Will they just not hire you? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

d_gelling · July 16th, 2002, 18:39

I had to pass the Farnsworth test...and although I am far from being a professional pilot, I have talked to a few that have done the same. They told me that as long as you can pass the FALANT test you are basically "exempt" for lack of a better word from having to pass one of those color plate tesats. Both are approved by the FAA so I don't believe it matters much.

Wm226 · July 17th, 2002, 00:05

Can you still get your First Class Medical if you have your color vision test done with the Farnsworth Lantern? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

Thanks

d_gelling · July 17th, 2002, 07:29

Yes...there is no difference either in the eyes of the FAA. If you have any questions as to whether you will fail, I would suggest getting the FALANT done first. You can take it as many times as it takes you to pass, but once you do, you're golden. Then when you go to get your 1st class medical, all you have to do is produce the letter from the FAA stating that you have passed the FALANT, and the AME will not give you any color vision tests.

Wm226 · July 17th, 2002, 14:28

What do the Farnsworth Lantern and the FALANT tests look like? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

d_gelling · July 17th, 2002, 14:52

Farnsworth and FALANT are the same test....one is just the acronym that they use.

It is a black box that they sit about 10 feet away from you that has two lights about 1/8" wide and about 1" apart. The 2 lights will shined and you must tell what color they are. It can be any combination of 3 colors (red, white, or green) and also one of three shades (light, normal, or dark). They will shine them randomly at you nine times, you must get 8/9 twice.

You must identify white over red, red over red, green over white, etc......

It takes some getting used to and is definately a learned behavior. The first time I ran through I got 5 wrong....then three......then 1......then 1 again. Who hoo I passed!

Good luck.

Let me know if you have more ?'s.

Wm226 · July 18th, 2002, 00:28

Okay, lets say I get a first class medical. From what I understand, you need to renew your First Class Medical Certificate every 6 months. Would I have to take a Farnsworth Lantern Test every 6 months or is it just a one-time deal? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

Also, can you really just go to an FAA physician that administers the Farnsworth Lantern Test to take the color vision test without getting the physical, and obtain a letter to transfer for an FAA physical from a different doctor? How would I do that? Thanks. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

d_gelling · July 18th, 2002, 07:14

Every time you need to renew your medical, you just need to show the FAA doc the letter from the FAA stating that you have passed the Farnsworth test and you will not have to pass it again. You can have it administered by any doc though, it does not need to be an FAA doc. It will be hard to find tough, I had to call up one of the local optometry schools.

Also, the lantern test is completely seperate from the physical. After you pass the lantern test you can bring those results with you to your FAA Doc for your medical (AME). He will note on your paperwork that you have satisfied the color vision requirements and will simply not give you that part of the physical. The FAA will send you a letter in the mail stating that you have passed the color vision portion, and in subsequent visits to the doc you will just need to produce that letter.

Wm226 · July 18th, 2002, 12:05

Lets say I pass the Farnsworth Lantern test. Will the optometrist that performed the test on me write the letter that certifies my completion of the color test, or will he or she have to send the results to the FAA so that they can write the letter? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

Doug Taylor · July 18th, 2002, 12:17

Can you get a "Medical Waiver" for color blindness?

I gather that once you have that on paper, all you have to do is disclose that during your physical.

I flew with a colorblind pilot over at Skyway, but I've lost contact with him.

jholloway_1 · July 18th, 2002, 13:44

I'm also partially colorblind, and I need to take the Farnsworth latern test soon. I've have been searching for places to take this test, and I found this website that has a few practitioners that offer the test. http://www.leftseat.com/falant.htm
Hope this helps, and good luck taking the test. I'm going to make a appointment soon too.
Jake

d_gelling · July 18th, 2002, 14:32

Leftseat will charge you TONS OF MONEY!!!! Call your local optometry schools....if they can't administer it, they can tell you who can.

Also the eye doctor will give you a report. You can then immediately take that to your AME who is administering the first class physical. He will take that as evidence that you have completed the color vision requirement and will give you your medical cert (assuming you pass everything else). You will then send in the test results that you got from the eye doc to the FAA in Oklahoma City (I can give you the number of the aeronautical medicine people later when I get home). They will issue a letter saying that you have passed the Farnsworth test, and that in subsequent renewals you will no longer be required to pass the color vision test. You must present that letter to the AME at each physical after that.

d_gelling · July 18th, 2002, 14:34

Also, I got the optometry school to administer a complete eye exam while they were at it....that way my insurance picked up the entire cost. I just had to pay my $20 deductible.

Good luck

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Wm226 · July 18th, 2002, 22:14

Thanks for you answers/input guys!

d_gelling, that’s is really great that you only had to pay only $20! Did you have to get authorization from your primary care physician? Or did you use a vision plan? My health insurance is an HMO and I am not too familiar with my vision plan. Who do you think I should contact to see if they would cover the costs of the eye exam and FALANT? Thank you for answering SEVERAL of my questions! [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Good luck Jake on the FALANT…

Doug, was the Skywest pilot you flew with partly colorblind or completely?

Doug Taylor · July 19th, 2002, 00:38

SkyWAY! It's ok, it happens all the time. I remember people saying "Funny, I didn't think Skywest flies 1900's"

Anyway, I'm not sure of the extent of his colorblindness but he had a MFW (medical flight waiver) and was a UAL intern and was waiting to be called up for a job when I met him.

I'm not even sure why they test for it as I'm not even sure why it's important in IFR flight.

d_gelling · July 19th, 2002, 08:19

My plan didn't have any primary care physicians....and it definately didn't have anything for the vision part of it. I just went there, and when it was over they said "Ok, what's your copay?"....

Wm226 · July 20th, 2002, 18:10

Okay, I feel a little more comfortable now. I will set an appointment with an optometrist ASAP! The closest optometrist from where I live that administers the FALANT that I can find is in Berkeley, which is a 7 hour drive away from where I live (which is in Southern California). I’ll set an appointment for sometime within the next two weeks; when ever my father can drive me.

Thanks for the help Dan, Doug, and Jake [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

SkyWAY! SkyWAY! SkyWAY!

kdwilkes · July 21st, 2002, 14:06

Doug,

How do the airlines handle color vision SODAs (Statement of Demonstrated Ability) issued by the FAA upon completion of a control tower light gun signal test?

Thanks!

Doug Taylor · July 21st, 2002, 14:33

I don't specifically know how they handle SODA's, but I know, but have lost touch, with some guys that had SODAs for color defificiency.

SteveS2002 · September 11th, 2002, 23:15

I'm just curious, you guys are saying that if you pass the FALANT, you can get a letter so that you never have to take a colr vision test again for the FAA. So can you get one of those letters if you just pass a normal pseudoisochromatic plate test? I'm just wondering because the FALANT is hard to find, and sometimes I can pass the plate tests, and sometimes I can't.

Also, how would you get one of these letters exempting you from having to take a color test again?

Thanks,

Steve

d_gelling · September 12th, 2002, 20:07

Correct....but try and take the tests with an eye doctor NOT YOUR AME!!!!!!! If you fail with your AME he/she will have to report it to the FAA and that will make your life hell. If you fail with an eye doctor, you can just retake it as many times as you need to pass.

As far as finding the FALANT, the best thing to do is call local optometry schools...that is the only place I could find one.

jholloway_1 · September 12th, 2002, 21:33

I am also partially colorblind, and i failed the plate test the first time that i took it (because i didn't know i was colorblind to then). So I drove 450 miles and took a FALANT test and passed, and took the letter stating that i passed back to my AME, and they didn't know anything about the FALANT and so now i'm going to find another AME that hopefully knows what to do.
Good luck

lilrkt · September 17th, 2002, 06:14

Ok, I am kinda lost in acronyms here...I have no idea what all off you are talking about with thte different kinds of tests. All I know is that I failed my color vision test at the doctor's office and all I had to do was go to my local FSDO and stand in a parking lot and have a guy shine a light at me to make sure that I could see the difference between red, green, and white. Quite simple really. Took all of 10 minutes.

jholloway_1 · September 26th, 2002, 13:30

Finally, I found an AME who knew what the FALANT test means, and I'm going to get another physical and get my restriction taken off. I could send my results from the FALANT test to the FAA and get it taken off for free, but I don't want to wait that long ( my appointment is in 30 minutes....)

I soloed yesterday!!!!!

SteveS2002 · September 27th, 2002, 17:41

OK, I passed a Pseudoisochromatic plate test and got my medical certificate with no hitches. Now, how do I get a letter from the FAA saying that I don't have to take a color test ever again?

Thanks

Steve

July 16th, 2002, 16:35	#1
Wm226 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: U.S. Posts: 487	Color Vision I have a question fo you guys regarding color vision. Lets say you took the Farnsworth lantern test and hold a First Class Medical Certificate. What will happen if you are invited to an airline medical physical (after the interview) and they administer a conventional color vision test? Will they exempt you from taking that color vision test because you have passed the Farnsworth lantern test? Will they just not hire you? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

July 16th, 2002, 18:39	#2
d_gelling Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 137	Re: Color Vision I had to pass the Farnsworth test...and although I am far from being a professional pilot, I have talked to a few that have done the same. They told me that as long as you can pass the FALANT test you are basically "exempt" for lack of a better word from having to pass one of those color plate tesats. Both are approved by the FAA so I don't believe it matters much.

July 17th, 2002, 00:05	#3
Wm226 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: U.S. Posts: 487	Re: Color Vision Can you still get your First Class Medical if you have your color vision test done with the Farnsworth Lantern? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img] Thanks

July 17th, 2002, 07:29	#4
d_gelling Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 137	Re: Color Vision Yes...there is no difference either in the eyes of the FAA. If you have any questions as to whether you will fail, I would suggest getting the FALANT done first. You can take it as many times as it takes you to pass, but once you do, you're golden. Then when you go to get your 1st class medical, all you have to do is produce the letter from the FAA stating that you have passed the FALANT, and the AME will not give you any color vision tests.

July 17th, 2002, 14:28	#5
Wm226 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: U.S. Posts: 487	Re: Color Vision What do the Farnsworth Lantern and the FALANT tests look like? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

July 17th, 2002, 14:52	#6
d_gelling Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 137	Re: Color Vision Farnsworth and FALANT are the same test....one is just the acronym that they use. It is a black box that they sit about 10 feet away from you that has two lights about 1/8" wide and about 1" apart. The 2 lights will shined and you must tell what color they are. It can be any combination of 3 colors (red, white, or green) and also one of three shades (light, normal, or dark). They will shine them randomly at you nine times, you must get 8/9 twice. You must identify white over red, red over red, green over white, etc...... It takes some getting used to and is definately a learned behavior. The first time I ran through I got 5 wrong....then three......then 1......then 1 again. Who hoo I passed! Good luck. Let me know if you have more ?'s.

July 18th, 2002, 00:28	#7
Wm226 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: U.S. Posts: 487	Re: Color Vision Okay, lets say I get a first class medical. From what I understand, you need to renew your First Class Medical Certificate every 6 months. Would I have to take a Farnsworth Lantern Test every 6 months or is it just a one-time deal? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img] Also, can you really just go to an FAA physician that administers the Farnsworth Lantern Test to take the color vision test without getting the physical, and obtain a letter to transfer for an FAA physical from a different doctor? How would I do that? Thanks. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

July 18th, 2002, 07:14	#8
d_gelling Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 137	Re: Color Vision Every time you need to renew your medical, you just need to show the FAA doc the letter from the FAA stating that you have passed the Farnsworth test and you will not have to pass it again. You can have it administered by any doc though, it does not need to be an FAA doc. It will be hard to find tough, I had to call up one of the local optometry schools. Also, the lantern test is completely seperate from the physical. After you pass the lantern test you can bring those results with you to your FAA Doc for your medical (AME). He will note on your paperwork that you have satisfied the color vision requirements and will simply not give you that part of the physical. The FAA will send you a letter in the mail stating that you have passed the color vision portion, and in subsequent visits to the doc you will just need to produce that letter.

July 18th, 2002, 12:05	#9
Wm226 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: U.S. Posts: 487	Re: Color Vision Lets say I pass the Farnsworth Lantern test. Will the optometrist that performed the test on me write the letter that certifies my completion of the color test, or will he or she have to send the results to the FAA so that they can write the letter? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

July 18th, 2002, 12:17	#10
Doug Taylor Agent Smith Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: KSDL Posts: 53,347 Blog Entries: 2	Re: Color Vision Can you get a "Medical Waiver" for color blindness? I gather that once you have that on paper, all you have to do is disclose that during your physical. I flew with a colorblind pilot over at Skyway, but I've lost contact with him.

July 18th, 2002, 13:44	#11
jholloway_1 Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Manhattan, KS Posts: 87	Re: Color Vision I'm also partially colorblind, and I need to take the Farnsworth latern test soon. I've have been searching for places to take this test, and I found this website that has a few practitioners that offer the test. http://www.leftseat.com/falant.htm Hope this helps, and good luck taking the test. I'm going to make a appointment soon too. Jake

July 18th, 2002, 14:32	#12
d_gelling Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 137	Re: Color Vision Leftseat will charge you TONS OF MONEY!!!! Call your local optometry schools....if they can't administer it, they can tell you who can. Also the eye doctor will give you a report. You can then immediately take that to your AME who is administering the first class physical. He will take that as evidence that you have completed the color vision requirement and will give you your medical cert (assuming you pass everything else). You will then send in the test results that you got from the eye doc to the FAA in Oklahoma City (I can give you the number of the aeronautical medicine people later when I get home). They will issue a letter saying that you have passed the Farnsworth test, and that in subsequent renewals you will no longer be required to pass the color vision test. You must present that letter to the AME at each physical after that.

July 18th, 2002, 14:34	#13
d_gelling Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 137	Re: Color Vision Also, I got the optometry school to administer a complete eye exam while they were at it....that way my insurance picked up the entire cost. I just had to pay my $20 deductible. Good luck Let me know if you have any more questions.

July 18th, 2002, 22:14	#14
Wm226 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: U.S. Posts: 487	Re: Color Vision Thanks for you answers/input guys! d_gelling, that’s is really great that you only had to pay only $20! Did you have to get authorization from your primary care physician? Or did you use a vision plan? My health insurance is an HMO and I am not too familiar with my vision plan. Who do you think I should contact to see if they would cover the costs of the eye exam and FALANT? Thank you for answering SEVERAL of my questions! [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Good luck Jake on the FALANT… Doug, was the Skywest pilot you flew with partly colorblind or completely?

July 19th, 2002, 00:38	#15
Doug Taylor Agent Smith Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: KSDL Posts: 53,347 Blog Entries: 2	Re: Color Vision SkyWAY! It's ok, it happens all the time. I remember people saying "Funny, I didn't think Skywest flies 1900's" Anyway, I'm not sure of the extent of his colorblindness but he had a MFW (medical flight waiver) and was a UAL intern and was waiting to be called up for a job when I met him. I'm not even sure why they test for it as I'm not even sure why it's important in IFR flight.

July 19th, 2002, 08:19	#16
d_gelling Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 137	Re: Color Vision My plan didn't have any primary care physicians....and it definately didn't have anything for the vision part of it. I just went there, and when it was over they said "Ok, what's your copay?"....

July 20th, 2002, 18:10	#17
Wm226 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: U.S. Posts: 487	Re: Color Vision Okay, I feel a little more comfortable now. I will set an appointment with an optometrist ASAP! The closest optometrist from where I live that administers the FALANT that I can find is in Berkeley, which is a 7 hour drive away from where I live (which is in Southern California). I’ll set an appointment for sometime within the next two weeks; when ever my father can drive me. Thanks for the help Dan, Doug, and Jake [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] SkyWAY! SkyWAY! SkyWAY!

July 21st, 2002, 14:06	#18
kdwilkes Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Vero Beach, FL Posts: 125	Re: Color Vision Doug, How do the airlines handle color vision SODAs (Statement of Demonstrated Ability) issued by the FAA upon completion of a control tower light gun signal test? Thanks!

July 21st, 2002, 14:33	#19
Doug Taylor Agent Smith Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: KSDL Posts: 53,347 Blog Entries: 2	Re: Color Vision I don't specifically know how they handle SODA's, but I know, but have lost touch, with some guys that had SODAs for color defificiency.

September 11th, 2002, 23:15	#20
SteveS2002 Newbie Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 3	Re: Color Vision I'm just curious, you guys are saying that if you pass the FALANT, you can get a letter so that you never have to take a colr vision test again for the FAA. So can you get one of those letters if you just pass a normal pseudoisochromatic plate test? I'm just wondering because the FALANT is hard to find, and sometimes I can pass the plate tests, and sometimes I can't. Also, how would you get one of these letters exempting you from having to take a color test again? Thanks, Steve

September 12th, 2002, 20:07	#21
d_gelling Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 137	Re: Color Vision Correct....but try and take the tests with an eye doctor NOT YOUR AME!!!!!!! If you fail with your AME he/she will have to report it to the FAA and that will make your life hell. If you fail with an eye doctor, you can just retake it as many times as you need to pass. As far as finding the FALANT, the best thing to do is call local optometry schools...that is the only place I could find one.

September 12th, 2002, 21:33	#22
jholloway_1 Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Manhattan, KS Posts: 87	Re: Color Vision I am also partially colorblind, and i failed the plate test the first time that i took it (because i didn't know i was colorblind to then). So I drove 450 miles and took a FALANT test and passed, and took the letter stating that i passed back to my AME, and they didn't know anything about the FALANT and so now i'm going to find another AME that hopefully knows what to do. Good luck

September 17th, 2002, 06:14	#23
lilrkt Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: D95: Lapeer, MI Posts: 230	Re: Color Vision Ok, I am kinda lost in acronyms here...I have no idea what all off you are talking about with thte different kinds of tests. All I know is that I failed my color vision test at the doctor's office and all I had to do was go to my local FSDO and stand in a parking lot and have a guy shine a light at me to make sure that I could see the difference between red, green, and white. Quite simple really. Took all of 10 minutes.

September 26th, 2002, 13:30	#24
jholloway_1 Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Manhattan, KS Posts: 87	Re: Color Vision Finally, I found an AME who knew what the FALANT test means, and I'm going to get another physical and get my restriction taken off. I could send my results from the FALANT test to the FAA and get it taken off for free, but I don't want to wait that long ( my appointment is in 30 minutes....) I soloed yesterday!!!!!

September 27th, 2002, 17:41	#25
SteveS2002 Newbie Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 3	Now What? OK, I passed a Pseudoisochromatic plate test and got my medical certificate with no hitches. Now, how do I get a letter from the FAA saying that I don't have to take a color test ever again? Thanks Steve

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