Can you be a pilot if you are colorblind?

In many cases, yes. Failing the standard color vision screening (such as Ishihara plates) is not an automatic disqualification. Most aviation authorities offer secondary or operational color vision tests, and a large number of people with mild color deficiency pass them and fly with full privileges. Those who do not pass can often still fly with restrictions, such as daytime or VFR-only operations.

What color vision test do pilots take?

The first screening is usually the Ishihara plates (colored dot patterns). If you do not pass, authorities use secondary tests that vary by country: the CAD (Colour Assessment and Diagnosis) test in the UK and Europe, an operational color vision or light-gun signal test in the United States, and lantern tests in Canada and Australia.

Can colorblind pilots fly at night?

It depends on the severity of the deficiency and the country. Pilots who pass a secondary color vision test usually fly without restriction, including at night. Those who do not may receive a medical certificate limited to daytime or VFR flying. The exact restriction is decided by your aviation medical examiner and authority.

Should I trust an online color blindness test?

No. Online color tests are unreliable because screen calibration, brightness and color settings vary widely. Use them only as a rough hint. For a real answer, see an optometrist for a proper diagnosis and then an aviation medical examiner who can test you against the official aviation standard.

Can You Become a Pilot If You're Colorblind? What the Medical Standards Really Say

SkyPrep Aviation Academy May 2026 9 min read Medical & Eligibility

Type "can you be a pilot if you're colorblind" into a search engine and you get two kinds of useless answers: a blunt "no, you can't" that is simply wrong, and a tangle of forum threads arguing about regulations from five different countries with no clear conclusion. If you have spent your life thinking color vision quietly closed the cockpit door, this is the article that opens it back up.

Here is the honest, structured version.

Short Answer: Often Yes, But It Is More Nuanced Than Glasses

Color vision deficiency does not automatically disqualify you from flying. A great many pilots, including professionals, have some degree of color deficiency. What matters is not whether you pass the first screening test, but how your color vision performs on the secondary tests that aviation authorities use when the screening flags something.

This is the single most important thing to understand: failing the Ishihara plates (the colored dot patterns) is not the end of the road. It is the start of a process, and that process has several exits that still lead to a licence.

A Note on Authorities and Medical Classes

Color vision standards and the exact secondary tests differ by country and by medical class (Third Class / Class 2 for private pilots, First Class / Class 1 for commercial and airline pilots). This article explains how the system works in general terms across the major authorities. For a binding answer on your own eyes, you need an Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) in your country. Treat everything here as a map, not a verdict.

Why Color Vision Matters in the Cockpit at All

It is a fair question. The reason color vision is tested is that several safety-critical cues are color-coded:

Light gun signals from a control tower (steady green, flashing red, and so on) are used when radios fail.
Approach lighting such as PAPI and VASI uses red and white lights to tell you if you are high or low on the glide path.
Airport beacons, taxiway and runway lighting, and some cockpit warning indicators rely on color.
Aeronautical charts use color to separate airspace, terrain and obstacles.

None of this means a colorblind person is unsafe. It means the authority wants to confirm you can still read the cues that matter, either normally or with a documented workaround.

How Color Vision Is Actually Tested

The process almost always works in two stages.

Stage one: the screening test

At your aviation medical, the examiner runs a quick screening, usually the Ishihara plates. If you read them correctly, color vision is signed off and you never think about it again. If you miss too many, you move to stage two. You are not failed at this point. You are simply referred for more precise testing.

Stage two: the secondary or operational test

This is where the outcome is really decided, and the specific test depends on where you fly:

United Kingdom and Europe (CAA / EASA): the modern standard is the CAD test (Colour Assessment and Diagnosis), a computer-based test that measures the type and severity of your deficiency. Pass it and you are considered "colour safe" with full privileges.
United States (FAA): if you do not pass the plates, you can take alternative approved tests or an Operational Color Vision Test, which can include a practical light-gun signal test with a tower. Passing leads to a Letter of Evidence that removes the restriction for good.
Canada (Transport Canada) and Australia (CASA): both use secondary clinical and practical assessments (such as lantern tests and practical evaluations), and both have long allowed pilots with color deficiency to fly, sometimes with conditions.

The theme across every country is the same: a screening failure triggers a more accurate, often more forgiving, second test.

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What Happens If You Do Not Pass the Secondary Test

Even then, you are usually not grounded. Many authorities will issue a medical certificate with an operational restriction rather than a refusal. Common examples include:

Valid for daytime flying only
Not valid for flights requiring the use of color signal control
Restrictions tied to specific operations rather than a blanket ban

For someone whose goal is to fly for the love of it, get a private licence, and take friends and family up on clear days, a daytime restriction is often something they can comfortably live with. It is a condition on the licence, not the absence of one.

Mild Versus Severe Deficiency

Color deficiency is not one thing. Most people who "fail" a plate test have mild anomalous trichromacy, the most common and least limiting form, usually in the red-green range. More significant dichromacy, and the rare cases of near-total color blindness, sit at the other end. The secondary tests exist precisely to tell these apart, which is why a screening failure tells you so little on its own. Two people can both miss the same Ishihara plates and end up with completely different outcomes.

"A failed dot test is a question, not an answer. The secondary tests are where colorblind pilots are made, and most people are milder than they fear."

Do Not Trust an Online Color Test

Before you talk yourself out of a flying career based on a test you took on your phone, stop. Online color vision tests are unreliable. Screen brightness, color calibration, blue-light filters and ambient lighting all distort the result. They can be a rough hint at most. The only results that mean anything are a proper diagnosis from an optometrist and, ultimately, the official test administered against the aviation standard.

What to Do Before Assuming the Worst

Take the uncertainty off the table early, in this order:

See an optometrist and get a proper diagnosis. Find out the exact type and degree of your deficiency. Knowing you are a mild deuteranomalous trichromat, for example, is far more useful than "I think I'm a bit colorblind."
Book an Aviation Medical Examiner. They can test you against the real standard and tell you which secondary tests are available where you fly. This medical is required before your first solo anyway, so doing it early just brings forward an answer you were always going to need.
Ask specifically about the secondary test path for your authority (CAD, operational test, lantern), so you know your options before you sit anything.

If color vision is the one thing standing between you and starting, the fastest way to deal with it is to get tested, not to keep guessing. Plenty of people who were sure they would fail have walked out of that exam with an unrestricted medical.

Start Ground School While You Sort Out the Medical

Here is the part that costs nothing to act on today. Your ground school theory does not depend on your medical at all. Weather, navigation, airspace, regulations, aircraft systems, radio work: none of it requires a color vision test or a medical certificate. You can learn all of it while you book your optometrist, sit your AME, and work through any secondary testing.

That timing is a genuine advantage. Instead of waiting in limbo, you spend the medical process getting ahead, so that whatever restriction (if any) lands on your certificate, you are already exam-ready and walking into flight training with a real head start.

Don't Wait on the Medical to Start Learning

Ground school theory is completely medical-independent. Begin the SkyPrep course today and use the time you would have spent worrying to get genuinely ahead. By the time your medical is settled, you will have a serious head start on every other new student.

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Summary: What Actually Matters

Colorblindness is rarely the hard stop people assume. Failing the Ishihara screening is normal and not disqualifying. Secondary tests (CAD, operational and light-gun tests, lantern tests) decide the real outcome, and many people pass them. Those who do not often fly with a daytime or operational restriction rather than no licence at all. Online tests mean nothing. The only verdict that counts comes from an Aviation Medical Examiner, so get tested early, and start your ground school theory now while the admin sorts itself out.