Why can't you be a pilot if you are color blind?

Question

I never understood why color blind people can't fly airplanes...

Answer 1

The ability to see color is important to pilots, since there are many lights and signs that are identical, but have different colors and mean different things. Therefore, without color vision, the world of flying could be very unsafe for them. However, if you are not totally colorblind, but just have a color deficiency, you can request a colorblindness waiver from the FAA. This is a simple test where you go to the FAA office, and they take you out to the airport, and you tell them which lights mean what, and show them you can tell them apart. It's called a "waiver of demonstrated ability" and it's pretty common for a lot of people with just minor problems. While it is relatively easy to obtain, practically speaking, you DO have to have some color vision in order to be able to pass the test, or else somehow be able to tell the different lights apart. Normally, someone with this waiver is not allowed to fly at night, since colors would be more important then with no outside references.

Answer 2

Besides the Nav lights(Nav lights are on the tips of the wing. A Red light sits on the left and a Green light sits on the right and this tells the pilot the movement of the aircraft they see). If a radio fails in flight for a pilot the only way they can communicate with a towered airport is light gun signals. They tell you weather or not your clear to land, clear to taxi, do not land, return to start point and all that(The link below is a good animation of these). There are also(On an instrument flight plan) Outer marker, Middle Marker and Inner Marker lights when you fly an instrument approach. The color of the light that flashes is the marker your at. Yet another reason is the color of runway lights and taxi lights. Runway lights are white while taxi lights are blue. So you won't end up taxiing on a runway. There are also the Beacons at the airport. A alternating flashing green and white tell you that it is a regular airport while a double flash of green and then a white tells you that its a military airport. So therefore you must be able to see color to operate safely.

Answer 3

I imagine that the rule exists because a lot of things in aviation are color coded. However, you can probably get an exemption from a Medical Examiner, most likely with some restrictions on your license. But deaf people can get exemptions, so I'm sure it's possible with color blindness as well.

Answer 4

Ill give you few reasons.

1. Airplanes have a red light on one wing and a green light on the other. If you cant tell the difference, how do you know if the aircraft you see out your windshield is coming or going away from you.

2. Taxiways are lit at night in blue lights, the end of the runway is red, the runway itself is green. Imagine the problems it would cause if you cant distinguish the two.

Long story short, its a safety issue.

Answer 5

Pilots need to use colored lights to navigate. Different colored lights are used at airports to distinguish runways, taxiways, parking, etc. Colored Lights are also used on wingtips. Color vision is especially important for night flying. If we let color blind people fly it would be a disaster.

Answer 6

Mainly because a colour blind person would have more difficulty distinguishing other aircraft against the sky. There would be a higher risk of a mid-air collision if we allowed colour blind people to fly aircraft.

Answer 7

Too many Blue green colors involved..read an instrument wrong and you could jeapordize the passengers or cargo..It also helps to be able to see the runway or other planes in the sky that appear just a shade darker or lighter than the sky.

Answer 8

While many of the answers have valid points, the point they all seem to have missed is that the control tower will also use colored lights to communicate with the pilot in case of radio failure.

The FAA page below references the lights when it mentions radio failure.

Answer 9

It must have something to do with distinguishing the colors of the lights on the control panel or the runway lights on the landing strips or airports.

Answer 10

Pilots need to have good eyesight for flying and telling the weather.

If they're color blind, theres more chances of them crashing