FAA Color Vision Test (Rabin) — What the FAA Actually Requires

At Eyecare Center of Orange County, Dr. Alexander Bonakdar has cared for patients for more than three decades. Trained at Bascom Palmer, board certified, and trusted by more than ten thousand Orange County patients since nineteen ninety one.

Colour matters when you fly. Your instrument displays, the lights on other aircraft, and the lighting on a runway all use colour to tell you something. That is why it gets tested.

The rules changed at the start of twenty twenty five. But they did not change for everybody, and this is the part most people get wrong. If you have already passed a colour test and you have no colour restriction, nothing changes for you.

If you do need it, it is a test on a computer. There are three versions, and passing any one of them is enough. Failing one does not stop you trying another, and there is no limit on how many times you can try.

We run one of the three here. It does have to be done in person. A version taken at home, or a free trial online, is not accepted, because someone has to be able to confirm it was really you who took it.

The test fades coloured letters until you can no longer read them. It does that separately for red, for green, and for blue, in each eye on its own. You need fifty five or better on all three. That number is set by the F A A.

This is the important part. Taking the test can only help you. If you do not pass, you keep exactly what you already had. And if this is your first medical and you do not pass, you are not turned away. You are given a certificate for flying by day. You can ask for that to be lifted later.

One last thing, and it matters whether you fly or not. Colour vision does not only come from birth. Diabetes, glaucoma, cataract and macular problems can change it. So can some medicines, including Plaquenil and some blood pressure tablets. If your colour vision has changed, that is worth looking into.

We run the F A A approved Rabin test here. Book it with us. It is much better to know your result before your medical than to find out during it.