I've had it with this BS

shine a "light gun" that you will have to correctly identify the red, green, and white lights.

It used to be the same test in Aus for the Army medical. I failed (which in retrospect was probably for the best as I had just been kicked out of school for having issues with discipline and authority :)) So of course being colour blind it was only natural to move into the telecoms field and I got a job wiring the looms in the Townsville exchange (remember those massive wads of wire emanating from the floor that branch off like a mandlebot pattern until you get to single wires, all colour coded of course). They were probably fixing bugs for 30 years until they switched to digital.

So then I moved into another obvious field for a colour blind person, photography. It did cause some issues with product work where the product has to be depicted exactly right. Fortunately that's largely up to the printing process not the photographer. But occasionally I would use an inappropriate background colour.

I then moved back to electronics and had a lot of trouble with resistors, but then that's what multi meters are for right? Thank goodness for SMD, the values are printed on the resistor with numbers, and I do knows me numbers, well up to 8 anyway which is all you need.

To get into the airforce in WW2 my uncle remembered every page of the books they use for testing (with all the coloured dots, normal people see 23, colour blind people see 4 or whatever, he got someone to tell him the correct numbers). The good news is that he got in, the bad news is that he was KIA not long after. Oops.

So the moral of this lengthy post...

Colour blindness doesn't have to hold you back, and

Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.


Rob

floresta:

Yeah I was thinking of emigrating to another country Italy maybe? ...
But then I remembered I wanted to work for Boeing

Wouldn't you be emigrating to another country if you went to work for Boeing, or are you going to commute?

Don

yes that's true cause I'm in Canada, and NOWAY am I commuting all the way to Everett from vancouver! But yes that's true it would be emigrating. BUT after boeing I'd like to live somewhere else. I want to travel the world.

CrossRoads:
In the US, you can get a pilots license with color blindness by having a Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA), as along as you are not totally colorblind.
What you will do is go to an airport and they will shine a "light gun" that you will have to correctly identify the red, green, and white lights. This is important for landings when your radio has gone out, they will shine the lights for to indicate not cleared to land, cleared to land, etc.

In the US, the local FAA office has a local flight doctor (maybe called something else) that has to approve taking of the test. Not sure what Canada's FAA equivalent does.
If you want to get a commercial license, the requirements may be stricter, I never looked into that. But the SODA is sufficient for Private Pilot and for an Instrument rating.

Yeah I took a dot test at an official medical examiner here in Canada and failed. But... it's not like It ruined my dreams, I realize being a pilot is very expensive and I don't have that money, and repaying it with a student loan is not what I want. Mechanical engineering is my interested field now and Ive already been accepted into a Bachelors of Engineering degree school here in Canada. It's called BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology) anyone heard of it?

Congrats on the school. Have not heard of it, the only school I know in Canada is McGill University.

You can make out traffic signals? Light gun test is similar. I can't see majority of the dot tests either. Light gun was not a problem.

CrossRoads:
Congrats on the school. Have not heard of it, the only school I know in Canada is McGill University.

You can make out traffic signals? Light gun test is similar. I can't see majority of the dot tests either. Light gun was not a problem.

oh yeah that's why i drive! lol but eh I'm not interested in becoming a pilot anymore.

polishdude20:
damn it looks like I really struck a chord with you guys. Well thanks for your thoughts!

Yeah I was thinking of emigrating to another country Italy maybe? Somewhere warm..
But then I remembered I wanted to work for Boeing and be around planes since I'm not allowed to fly them (color blindness).
So what better way to work around planes than to design them!

Flying isn't fun anymore. I know people who have pilot's licenses who are retiring and they said before 9-11 that it wasn't fun anymore. I've seen very few private planes in the air after 9-11 and I've heard there are a lot of restrictions on sight seeing. You can be prosecuted for not following the rules and you rent those planes to learn and pay for fuel that was twice as expensive than gas. You basically pay thousands of dollars for a license that can be taken away from you. I came close to losing my life up their due to another pilot's stupidity.

Flying isn't fun anymore

It never was :slight_smile:

The only vehicle worth getting into is one you can get out of when it breaks.


Rob

Flying is a blast. We took a month off summer of 2004 I think and airport hopped across the country & back. Saw a lot of stuff we couldn't have seen trying to make the same trip driving, and stopped at lot of airports the you couldn't get to commercially. Had to do some planning ahead of time, the trip was basically fly 3-3.5 hrs in a morning, then spend a day & a half some where. 55 hours of flying over the course of the month. Would call ahead to the next stop the evening we landed to arrange a car & a room. Land somewhere, lot of places they would pull the car up to the airplane! No terminal lines, no dealing with all the commercial delays.
If you haven't flown yourself around, you're missing out on a great experience. Go take a few lessons just to try it. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't, but ti will always be something you can talk about and I have always found others too afraid to try it themselves will be enamored by your experience.
Pilots are a pretty small percentage of the US population - something like 600,00 total of of us is all.

CrossRoads:
Flying is a blast. We took a month off summer of 2004 I think and airport hopped across the country & back. Saw a lot of stuff we couldn't have seen trying to make the same trip driving, and stopped at lot of airports the you couldn't get to commercially. Had to do some planning ahead of time, the trip was basically fly 3-3.5 hrs in a morning, then spend a day & a half some where. 55 hours of flying over the course of the month. Would call ahead to the next stop the evening we landed to arrange a car & a room. Land somewhere, lot of places they would pull the car up to the airplane! No terminal lines, no dealing with all the commercial delays.
If you haven't flown yourself around, you're missing out on a great experience. Go take a few lessons just to try it. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't, but ti will always be something you can talk about and I have always found others too afraid to try it themselves will be enamored by your experience.
Pilots are a pretty small percentage of the US population - something like 600,00 total of of us is all.

your a pilot!? :smiley: Nice

Yes I am, and yes it is :slight_smile:

Throwing in my 2 cents a bit late... so I'll make it short.

I was severely picked on all through school and my mom would always tell me "Some day they will have to call you Boss." I used to think "Yeah right!" Since graduating High School I've taken just a very few college classes and self-taught myself computers, programming and Linux administration. I now make pretty good money working in the IT department at a credit union. And all though non of those bullies calls me Boss, one of them does work in the branch as a teller which in my opinion is just a small step up from working the counter at McDonalds. Don't get me wrong. I worked as a teller from age 19 to 25, but since I've worked my way up to bigger and better things. Sounds like you will too.

biocow:
Throwing in my 2 cents a bit late... so I'll make it short.

I was severely picked on all through school and my mom would always tell me "Some day they will have to call you Boss." I used to think "Yeah right!" Since graduating High School I've taken just a very few college classes and self-taught myself computers, programming and Linux administration. I now make pretty good money working in the IT department at a credit union. And all though non of those bullies calls me Boss, one of them does work in the branch as a teller which in my opinion is just a small step up from working the counter at McDonalds. Don't get me wrong. I worked as a teller from age 19 to 25, but since I've worked my way up to bigger and better things. Sounds like you will too.

well thanks for sharing your story! :smiley:

Dude, I don't have anything to say that's not a cliche'... And 54 years ago, when I was 17 and about equally Nerdy :0 I wasn't ready to hear what is the truth:

This (High School as Temporary Reality), Too, will pass. And the AdoubleSHoles will be missing out on all the fun and challenges you will have.

HERE, which is a Community of people who give a Sh.. and figure things out for themselves and help each other and which is people like that all over the World, IS Reality. And you're part of it, Here.

My friend Josiah Longo from the New York band "Gandalf Murphy" wrote this, which is one of my favorite songs:

--( excerpt)--
... we ever fit in anyway
We never fit in anywhere
Only here, and we know here is not perceived reality
We never fit in anyway
We never fit in anywhere
I don't care cause I know here is where I always want to be
--(end)--

Rest of the lyrics are here:
http://www.slambovia.com/lyrics-gt.html#Anchor-Never-37254

And the song is here:

...see you around.

You know.... I think you're into old-school rock.... just a hunch...

Good stuff, that old-school rock...

Good stuff, that old-school rock

When I was at school, rock and an antler chisel were all we had.

The saying around our house is, "We don't listen to the haters." There's plenty of them, so it's useful to get good at tuning them out.

If people are spraying water around electronic components I would be complaining. If that isn't feasible, then try to work at home. How much of "showing up on the day" do you actually have to do to pass? Sounds like not much, if not many people are doing it.

As for later, you will do fine if you know your stuff. Doesn't matter what paper you have (like college degrees) or who you know. Ultimately employers want to hire people who know their stuff. Set yourself personal goals and try to reach those. Ask for help from people (like here) who aren't crazy.

As for your teachers, I have a bit of sympathy for them. Dealing with these idiots isn't fun. And technology keeps changing. Heck, when I started doing electronics it was all valves and working with hundreds of volts, and you got a nasty shock if you weren't paying attention.

As for flying, that's fun too. Bearing in mind that at least your fellow pilots are likely to be reasonably competent and healthy, as they have to have a medical every couple of years, and a flight check. Unlike some of the idiots on the road who are probably legally blind and deaf but still keep driving, because they never, ever, have to be re-tested for physical capacity to drive. Or knowledge of road laws. Or competence.

..people (like here) who aren't crazy.

Oh I don't know about that :smiley:

Unlike some of the idiots on the road who are probably legally blind and deaf but still keep driving, because they never, ever, have to be re-tested for physical capacity to drive. Or knowledge of road laws. Or competence.

Agreed - there are far too many elderly people (or sometimes not so elderly) who shouldn't still be driving. Their argument would be 'oh I need the car to travel and get places' - yeah but at what possible cost to other people's lives.