The FAA color vision test, and what happens if you don’t pass it

Yes. Color vision is assessed at every FAA medical under 14 CFR Part 67, but the standard is functional — the ability to perceive the colors necessary for safe performance of airman duties — not a specific score. If you do not pass one acceptable test you can take another, and if you cannot pass any of them an AME can still issue a third class medical carrying limitation #104, “Valid for day visual flight rules (VFR) only.” Many pilots with color vision deficiency fly, and the limitation can later be removed.

Yes. A color vision deficiency does not prevent you from earning a private pilot certificate. The worst realistic outcome of a failed screening is a medical certificate with limitation #104, “Valid for day visual flight rules (VFR) only” — you still train, still solo, still take the checkride, still carry passengers, but you do it in daylight under VFR. Sport Pilot needs no FAA medical certificate at all.

The FAA publishes a list of acceptable color vision screening instruments for pilots, and effective 1 January 2025 that list is computer-based: the Colour Assessment & Diagnosis test (CAD), the Rabin Cone Contrast Test (RCCT, military version, requiring 55 or higher on red, green and blue) and the Waggoner Computerized Color Vision Test (WCCVT). FAA guidance is explicit that tests not on the published list are not acceptable. Ask your AME which instruments they hold before booking, because not every examiner has all three.

You are not denied. You can be tested on another acceptable instrument, and there is no published limit on the number of attempts. If you cannot pass any of them and are otherwise qualified, FAA guidance directs the examiner to issue a third class medical certificate with limitation #104, “Valid for day visual flight rules (VFR) only,” rather than deferring or denying. You can then request an FAA review to have that limitation reconsidered.

Yes. FAA guidance states there is no limit to the number of trials allowed on an acceptable color vision test, and you may attempt any or all of the three instruments on the current list. Passing any single acceptable test resolves the issue completely — the FAA's own wording is that no limitation, no Letter of Evidence and no Statement of Demonstrated Ability is then needed for any class.

Yes. Passing any acceptable color vision test removes the need for a limitation at any class of medical. Pilots holding the older limitations #16 or #17 can have them removed by passing an acceptable test, and there is an FAA color vision limitation review for people who cannot pass the screening tests but want a first or second class certificate, or who hold a legacy Letter of Evidence or Statement of Demonstrated Ability. Requests are decided case by case, so confirm the current procedure with your AME.

Limitation #104 reads “Valid for day visual flight rules (VFR) only,” so yes — while it stands you fly in daylight under VFR. The older limitation #17 reads “Not valid for night flying or by color signal control.” This matters for the private pilot certificate, because FAR 61.109 requires 3 hours of night flight training including 10 night takeoffs and landings, so raise it with an instructor and an AME before you start a course rather than halfway through.

People do, but the route runs through having the limitation removed rather than around it. Commercial flying requires a second class medical and ATP privileges require a first class, and a day-VFR-only restriction is not compatible with that work. Because the FAA now accepts three different computer-based screening instruments and you may attempt all of them, a meaningful number of people who failed a plate test go on to pass one of them. Nobody can promise you will.

It depends entirely on whether the color vision limitation can be lifted, not on the diagnosis itself. A pilot who passes any acceptable FAA color vision test holds an unrestricted medical and competes for jobs on equal terms. A pilot who cannot, and holds limitation #104 “Valid for day visual flight rules (VFR) only,” is realistically limited to private flying while that restriction stands. Only an AME or the FAA can tell you which group you are in.

No, and they carry no weight at all. Screen brightness, color temperature, night mode, ambient light and panel age all shift the colors, so a home result is not evidence in either direction. The FAA accepts results only from the instruments on its published acceptable-test list, administered by an examiner and recorded in your file. Failing an online test is not a reason to abandon flight training.

No. Sport Pilot requires no FAA medical certificate — a valid US driver's licence serves as the alternative, provided you have never had an FAA medical certificate denied, suspended or revoked. That proviso is important: if you are unsure about color vision, do not apply for a medical casually, because a denial closes the driver's-licence route. Our Sport Pilot program is $8,400.

No — colour blindness, spelled either way, is not disqualifying under 14 CFR Part 67. The regulation asks only for the ability to perceive the colours necessary for the safe performance of airman duties, and the FAA provides several acceptable tests plus a documented route to removing a colour vision limitation from a certificate. The realistic worst case is a day-VFR-only restriction, not a refusal to certificate you.

No. A $229 discovery flight at Van Nuys requires no medical certificate of any kind — you fly the aircraft with an instructor as pilot in command, and the hour is loggable dual instruction. You need a medical before you fly solo, which typically falls between 15 and 25 hours into training. The full $229 is credited against any program if you enrol within 24 hours.