In Need Of Love And Care! Failed Cad Test!

[Jarga Mboge]

Hello fellow simmers recently i was offered to train for Gambia Bird a new

airline for my home country! i went for the medicals yesterday and failed

it! red green colour blind!

Guys i feel just got hit by a train! this so annoying and

there nothing anyone can do! am devastated. So sorry

for the doom and gloom but you the only ones who will

understand! My family keep telling dont worry its only a

job! they don't get it!!!!!!

i dont know what else to do! i never even entertained doing

any other job!

well sorry guys for being gloom had to talk to someone!

[Lefteris Kalamaras]

For what it's worth, we really understand and share your pain. Several of our friends, co-developers and people who we hold dear have similar issues - they wanted a career in professional aviation and for one reason or another (medical or not), could not follow through. Your family is right - it's only a job, but you are right as well - it's a dream too!

My humble recommendation: Apply for an Air-Traffic-Controller job. It's one of the most highly-demanding skills, very well paid, quite responsible and very closely related to actually flying (in fact, you get to tell all those captains what to do ).

If you want to actually get a glimpse of what it's like, I suggest you try an online environment - I am partial to VATSIM, of course, as one of its Founding members. It will keep you thoroughly enjoyed for quite a long time and perhaps might steer you towards becoming a professional ATCo as well.

[Will269]

I agree with Lefteris, try Vatsim, do some training, it will help you. I am a former ATC who ironically had to leave due to progressive tone deafness in one ear. Loved every second of it, made lots of friends and memories. Give it a go.

[Jarga Mboge]

Thanks alot Lefteris! i checked for atc its even more stringent than pilots! no chance of passing it! however a glimmer of hope! my country accepts FAA standards so if i can pass the light gun test then i can make it! so I'm off to america soon to do the test! what makes me so sad aswell is the Gambia Bird Airlines operate a319s and a321s all brand new! this is were i blame Lefteris! i always HATED AIRBUS cockpits my whole life! until is started reading about fslabs a320!then i researched more into airbus. then i realised that i like it! God help me i love it! so its even more of a bitter pill to swallow!

i dont kno why i hated airbus cockpits! i guess it looks somewhat feminine (not that there is anything wrong with dat!). also i think the sidestick also put me off since i grew up with yokes! people dont like change!

i will update you guys once i kno more!

remember guys if u fail colour vision test in the EU you can try america which is better or Australia which even better thanks to several lawsuits!

[mattwharmby]

Ahhh the CAD test - I've recently had a wonderful experience with this test! I went to CAA Gatwick UK and failed the CAD there, (12.68 protan - averaged result over 3 tests). Feeling deflated and slightly annoyed I decided to go and try it again, this time however, at City University London...guess what, passed 1st time with a score of 10.93. Now for a test that's advertised as 100% sensitive and accurate then gaining a different result opens a nice can of worms! Either way, sent my new result off to the CAA, they then re-averaged my result and I scraped a pass with 11.81.

Just a pity I didn't get through to stage 3 of the British Airways future pilot programme...suppose it's just another hiccup in my piloting dreams, but one I will certainly attempt to get through!

Jarga Mboge I'd recommend you possibly attempt to resit it (preferably at a location where you don't have to submit your result if you fail...I don't know if they will use the lovely averaging technique where you are!). Make sure you take PLENTLY of breaks during the test and look away from the screen/close your eyes often - it helped me!

Good luck!

Matt

[Jarga Mboge]

thanks matt! sorry for urs too. i booked city university on monday and see what happens. in the ishihara i got 8 errors cad yellow blue 1.37 and rg 20.1 ! that would make me green blind ! but i can see green! i will follow ur advice! i never took a break during the test. and also i was a bit stupid aswell the night before the my Navy unit was celebrating the retirement of our CO so i was out all night very tired when i did the test! the test is monday i will let u know.

[mattwharmby]

On the Ishihara i only got 3/25 correct....yet still passed the CAD (eventually haha). So don't worry about your low score on the Ishihara. Your CAD results should show which deficiency you have (either protan - red, deutan - green). The threshold for passing these is different...for red the score must be 12 or below, whereas the green threshold is 6 or below.

Unfortunately for you, a score of 20.1 is very high. As your going to City Uni i presume you previously went to the CAA Gatwick testing centre for your 1st CAD? If so, if you do score a pass at City Uni it may require a few more visits to bring the average down (Eg. If your protan deficient (red) and got a new score of say 10 at City Uni, 10+21.1 = 31.1...divided by 2 (you've taken 2 tests)..you would have a average score of 15.55 which is still not a pass (12 or below) so you would have to once again do the test to bring your average down some more etc.)

Once again, I'd double check which deficiency you have, protan of deutan (red or green) as if you are deutan deficient then getting your score below the green threshold (6) may possibly be impossible in my opinion.

By the way, being diagnosed with colour "blindness" doesn't mean you can't see the colours (colour deficient is a better way to look at it), it just means that at certain wavelengths of light (either in the red or green spectrum) you cannot see them as strongly/obviously as normal colour vision individuals would...

Matt

[Craig Baillie]

Hello Jarga,

I've just seen your post and I felt compelled to join in.

First of all, have you managed to do the other tests and, if so, how did you do?

I can empathise with you over this discovery. I am a ATCO in the UK and also had some problems with my colour vision. I had my initial medical in 2004 at LHR and failed the ishihara but not by much. I was immediately treated to the lantern test which I borderline failed. Everything then hinged on re-doing the test with a specialist at CAA Gatwick. I am pleased to say that I passed that.

I am surprised that you found ATC requirements more strict than piloting as that was the opposite view of my examiner whom I had asked what would have likely happened had I failed. The view was that it was likely I would undertake an extra assessment at NATS to see if there was an actual issue when using the equipment.

I don't know too much about the CAD test as that has since come in. Anyway, I hope you've had some good news.