Someone asked me this recently.
I don’t think there is, short of getting an Initial Class 1 with an improperly done CV test 
However there may be a legitimate route, along the lines of the candidate not having yet exhausted every available CV test method. Many people fail the Isihara plates (which are a truly crap test method) and then progress towards what is generically called a Lantern Test, and there are several of those. The UK CAA operates 1 or 2 but there may be others in other countries.
“All available”, I believe “no”, but there is a test that came in about 10 years ago.
Failed my UK CAA class 1 initial approximately 20 years ago due to colour vision.
Passed my UK CAA class 1 initial approximately a year ago having passed the “CAD test” described here: https://www.aviationvisionservices.com/colour-vision/.
In summary, you watch a computer screen and press a button to say in which of 4 directions the dot is moving. It’s a very rapid test – when I did it I’d say about 30% of the screens were “blank” and another 20% were very marginal. I was told (afterwards) this is normal, so if anyone does sit this test don’t panic during it.
Quantitative result available immediately afterwards. Marginal scores are immediately reassessed.
I believe the CAD test as linked above is a stand-alone, computer-based diagnostic test unrelated to the others you mention. It is the current route to class 1 certification by the UK CAA for those failing the Ishihara plate assessment. The link to Dr Chorley’s website is very informative.
I cannot comment on the assessments used in other EU countries as I no longer perform EASA medicals owing to Brexit. I am not however aware of any means of gaining initial class 1 certification in the UK/Europe in those with confirmed colour vision deficiency. The situation may be different elsewhere in the world (Australia following a functional in-flight assessment, the ACVA?)
Yes; Australia is here (search for “colour”) but IIRC Pape got his ATPL restricted to AU airspace.
with confirmed colour vision deficiency
Sure, but “confirmed” using a specific test does not mean no other tests exist. For example there is the Wright-Holmes Lantern Test. Maybe the UK CAA no longer operates it, but somebody else might. You can totally fail Isihara but pass the WHLT 100%.
Some weeks ago, I could advise him to see with some danish doctors…
:-D
Or maybe learn to recognise the Ishihara plates without colur vision – will take a bit of practice, but I believe this can be done.
For sure it can be done, but if you have already done Isihara at an AME (other than a 1990s Hungarian one, according to widespread legend) you are prohibited from doing another Isihara anywhere in the world, for the rest of your life.
Otherwise, how would be said candidate be asking the Q? I suppose he may have found Isihara plates on the web and found he can’t pass them, then got his hands on the CAA machine which does the CAD test, and found he can’t pass it either. In reality, 99% of people discover they fail when it is too late, and the AME has tatooed the failure on his back.
I think that evey person who is so colour vision deficient that he/she fails ALL available tests (including lantern tests) will be aware that they have that deficiency, so they should study before they get to the AME…
The Ishihara test is a screening test and failed quite easily by people who have sufficient colour vision to pass other tests, so failing it will be a surprise to some people with a mild deficiency, but the genuinely red-green colour__blind__ people will be aware of their condition.
That’s not necessarily so. Colour vision wasn’t even recognised until 300 years ago: some people were just lazy good-for-nothings who pretended not to be able to pick cherries. John Mollon’s ‘Though she kneel’d in the place where they grew’ tells the story of how colourblindness was discovered, nicely. The point being that colour vision deficiencies so rarely cause disability, that a person can go through life merrily unaware of having even a severe form.
Unfortunately I was about to Email Peter with the same question, because a colleague’s son was just unexpectedly diagnosed with severe deficiency in his Class 1 application. When I was studying colour vision one of our criteria was that our subjects had to have normal colour vision – and it said so on the poster. One lad who applied was a pure protanope, to his great distress and surprise. Both grew up overseas, which may be relevant as I remember being tested in primary school in the UK.
Despite knowing a fair amount about colour vision, I know nothing about colour vision and aviation. However when I was reading up on the CAD test, one document stated that the CAA was considering bringing in recurrent colour vision testing in order to pick up deteriorations. This alarmed me, as if there’s one thing worse than having one’s career nipped in the bud, it would be to have it cut off at its prime. I’m not sure how serious a suggestion this is, but I would be cautious about setting out as a pilot if I only scraped through the CAD test. I’ll see if I can find it again.
