Queensland pilot wins right to captain airliner despite poor colour vision
A Queensland pilot with poor colour vision has become the first such person in Australia cleared to captain an airliner.
Under Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regulations, pilots with colour vision deficiency have not been permitted to hold an open air transport pilot's licence, necessary to captain large jets.
Depending on the range of their visual deficiency, pilots like John O'Brien usually reach the peak of their career as a first officer.
But in 2012, Mr O'Brien launched an appeal against that decision with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Brisbane.
Late last week, the tribunal upheld his appeal, paving the way for hundreds of other pilots to follow suit.
The tribunal found Mr O'Brien was "not likely to endanger the safety of air navigation in the role of captain" and that his "ability to operate aircraft safely with CVD [colour vision deficiency] is not in question".
Mr O'Brien said it was a sensible decision.
"Vision perception is much more complex than simply being able to name colours that we see around us," he said.
"For example, on an instrument panel, looking at the shapes or the message or the text or the numbers that are presented - certainly there are colours presented in there, but the colour on its own is insufficient to interpret the information that we need to interpret."
He said it was difficult to gain a commercial pilot's license of any type in New Zealand or in many European countries, owing to the reliance upon clinical testing.
But in the United States, trainee pilots underwent a practical flight test, meaning it was easier for many people with CVD to become licensed, Mr O'Brien said.
Last June, with the tribunal's decision pending, CASA wrote to 500 aviation licence holders and 900 pilot employers advising them to consider whether it was safe to allow their CVD pilots to continue operating.
In the letter, CASA manager Peter Fereday said the regulator would be reviewing new research into CVD and encouraged operators to "consider whether it is safe to allow those pilots to continue to exercise flight crew privileges" under current regulations.
Significant legal victory, pilots association says
CASA declined to comment to the ABC, and is considering whether to appeal against the tribunal's ruling.
Virgin Independent Pilots Association (VIPA) executive director Simon O'Hara said it was a significant legal victory for pilots with CVD.
"This is a vote of confidence in the thousands of other CVD pilots who have operated at the highest levels of aviation in Australia with unblemished safety records since the '90s," he said.
"VIPA has long maintained that CASA's claims relating to the safety implications of CVD pilots are distinctly wrong.
"This was justified with the tribunal's findings that Mr O'Brien had an impeccable flying record, and his risk of having an accident whilst in command of an aircraft is the same as any captain."
According to CASA, out of 36,000 Australian pilots, about 400 have CVD.
Of these, 140 flew commercial operations.
In 1987, Dr Arthur Pape won a similar appeal, allowing him to become the first CVD pilot to fly at night.
Two years later, after more pilots started appealing, commercial pilot Hugh Jonathan Denison won a landmark case reversing the night restrictions, leading to sweeping changes.