16 April 2008

Flying (Color) Blind



I chuckled when I read
this post ...thanks to Instapundit for bringing it to my attention. I once had a color blind student, and he passed his add-on checkride and got his Private Pilot Helicopter license!
This question is for my non-pilot readers:
This gentleman had a restriction on his license that applied to both airplanes and helicopters.
Can you guess what the restriction was, and why?

6 comments:

Flightfire said...

I should know this, as I had to memorize all these regs at one point, but my educated guess is that he can't fly at night. He wouldn't be able to distinguish which color the anticollision lights on a small aircraft are.

Greybeard said...

FF-
Got your comment, and you're right!
But bein' a pilot, you had an unfair advantage. I'll post your comment later, when others have had a chance to guess.
Good to hear from you again! Have you met Rodolfo? (Separated at birth?)

Anonymous said...

Must wear corrective glasses is my first guess. I'll have to check the FARS if that's wrong.

btw. Can you recommend any helicopter/aviation trade journals/magazines worth subscribing to? I'm a member of AOPA now and they've been SUPER. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Greybeard said...

R-
Rotor and Wing is good. They focus on military and expensive corporate stuff more than I would like, but they do pay some attention to topics of interest to the entire industry, both from the pilot and maintenance viewpoint. I could get ya a free subscription if I had a way to contact you.

Your answer is close, but no cigar!

Greybeard said...

Rodolfo-
Try here.

Greybeard said...

FlightFire's comment is correct.
Color blind folks have a problem differentiating between red and green. Position lights, required to be illuminated on aircraft from sunset to sunrise, are red and green, a holdover from Maritime rules. You can see how someone color blind would have a problem discerning an approaching aircraft at night.
My student's restriction?
He was limited to Day-Visual Flight Rules only.