It’s a schooner!
And you, the FAA, and I are all in agreement - please note I stated “assuming no other major impairments affecting safety”. The key here is SAFETY, as I’m sure as a pilot well know.
I refer you to FAR Part 67.103(c), the pertinent regulation regarding pilots and color vision for a 1st class medical, the most stringent civilian classification:
Note, it does not require normal color vision, or that you perceive these colors as others do - only that you can distinguish them sufficiently (whatever you call them) in order to maintain safety.
The actual restriction slapped on a colorblind pilot’s license/medical (which mine had when I was a student pilot, until I had it removed through a successful lightgun test) specifically forbids flight at night or by lightgun signals regardless of time of day. Since it is entirely possible to fly solely in the daytime (when position lights are not required) from non-towered fields without runway or taxi lights, VASI, PAPI, or other signal lights (indeed, I started at just such a field in Wisconsin many years ago) even someone with severe color impairment and no other visual issues that would affect safety could still obtain a license, albeit with some definite limitations and restrictions. Some requirements - such as the required night experience or forays to towered airports - could not be done solo, but then you are not required to do these solo in order to obtain a private pilot license in the US. Hence my statement that the gentleman in the OP could obtain a pilot’s license in the US if there were no other safety-affecting issues and he desired to go through the process of getting one.
Obviously, though, the more severe the impairment the more hoops the FAA might require you to jump through.
I’ve been told that the notion that severly colorblind people see in shades of gray is a myth, on account of gray is just another color. Do you agree with that?
Except for exceptionally odd cases, yes, Lib. 256-greyscale and 256-color look different to me, and I’m in bad shape, myself.
Cool. In dealing with the FAA at my job, it seems the FAA have qualifiers, clarifiers, exemptions, etc for just about everything. Great that you were able to continue flying 
It actually gets quite addicting I must say.
Awesome thread.
Forgive me if this has already been asked… Do you have a letter that states your disability in case you are pulled over? A former teacher of mine had such bad balance that she carried a letter stating she couldn’t pass a roadside drunk test, sober or not.
E-Sabbath…Brenda?
Lib, In this context, grey is not really just another color. The colorblindness you refer to is as rare as they come, seeing in black & white (like a B&W TV), but it does exist. Shades of grey are the shades between black & white. The color preceptors that are affected that we’re talking about affect certain wavelengths visually. These wavelengths affect different portions of the spectrum then where black, white & various shades of grey exist. It’s tough to explain…if you play with the color wheel from post #3, you’ll see that black is the combination off all colors (on a screen & with paint anyway, in light it’s the absence of colors…), in the case of the color blind, it’s all perceptible colors. I have always assumed that “my” black & white is the same as everyone elses, but I can’t confirm that. In fact, the black may be the same (absence of color) but the white might be different. As I said in the op, there is much about this I don’t understand.
I’m glad to learn so much about the pilot regulations. It’s nice to know if I ever want to fly, it’s possible.
liirouge, Thanks. I’ve never started a SD thread that generated anywhere close to this much interest before. I feel like I’ve taken my first step into a larger world. As for your question…I don’t have any type of letter or restriction on my driver’s license. I suppose if I did, I could run red lights whenever it pleased me to do so. This might have been an intriguing prospect in my reckless youth, but I’m content with being a safe driver these days. I never ran a red light due to being color blind, and I don’t think I ever will.
Moe, Don’t get to used to it, Boy-O. I live for the day to celebrate you being wrong…The Red Sox fans had their day, and I will too. By the way…I tried again to see a damn magic-eye image & couldn’t do it. I read your stupid directions in this stupid thread to see the stupid sailboat and it still doesn’t work. I’ll try again tonight, after the rage subsides.
I can never see the stupid sailboat either, dammit!
I understand how it’s supposed to work, I think I just lack the patience. :smack:
Not to continue the magic eye hijack but here’s one that is also a good demonstration of the opponent prossessing channels I was decribing earlier. You’ll notice if you get it correctly it appears almost completely gray, despite the obvious colors present.
Figure 5 on their FAQ shows a completely black and white random-dot stereogram.
im slightly red-green colour blind, never got it confirmed until high school when it became an issue in an art class. the teahcer was not very understanding so i went and got a test and showed her that i was colour blind, not being purposefully annoying by choosing the wrong colours 
though even in primary school i had problems, i still remember a friend of mine gave me a purple pencil when i asked for a blue to colour in the ocean on a map. i showed the teacher and she asked why id coloured the water in purple and i could hear my friend laughing quite funny in retrospect. though my blindness is not even close to whats being discussed here, i have problems with red and green m&ms and blue and purple, green and brown, etc. but it doesnt really cause problems in my normal day to day activitys. though it always intrigues people and they try to ask you what things look like, and with mine not being too bad, it often disappoints them to know i dont see shades of grey the only thing that does annoy me is when people say “what colour is that? oh dont worry youre colour blind” when i do actually know what colour it is. but it can be used to my advantage. girl: “what colour top should i wear?” me (watching tv): “i dont know im colour blind remember” use it to your advantage as much as possible
I gotta say, this is one of the most interesting and entertaining threads I’ve seen in a long time.
I’m fairly sure my ‘black’ is larger than most people’s. Which sucks severely. I do have good night vision, despite that.
I want cyberoptics, damn it.
Moe, Although I’m now convinced that color has nothing to do with it, I still can’t see it. Since this is a thread about how my eyes don’t work like everyone elses, this is a hijack I’m okay with. I did just spend about 30 minutes looking at the sample with nada results. I hate those freakin’ things! Speak to me no more of them!
mza662, I know what you mean about using it to my advantage. I’ve had girlfriends color their hair, show up and ask me “Notice anything different?” I’d just say “You look like you lost weight!” When it was revealed that she just completely changed the color of her hair, I was able to get away with “Now how was I supposed to know that?” even when I had a girlfriend who went from black hair to blonde.
I’m much more mature now, and my girlfriend has red hair. Kind of like Agent Scully. She also rules.
Sue Duhnym, Thank you for your comment. I started this thing a couple of weeks ago and I’m surprised that there are still new posts. It’s been fun.
E-Sabbath, I was confused about your color deficiency before, but now I’m really confused. What do you mean by “larger” black? I’m on board with cyberoptics, though. I’d settle for one of those Laforge visors at this point.
In reference to that original color wheel, and considering my difficulty in seeing shades, I suspect that my perception of ‘things that are black’ contain many things that others would label ‘things that are dark blue’ ‘dark red’ ‘dark green’ ‘dark brown’ and so on. Thus, in the wheel with black on the inside and white on the outside, more surface area is black to me.