If you last dealt with aviation colour vision testing a few years ago, the rules you remember are probably out of date. The FAA tightened its guidance effective 1 January 2025, and the changes affect which tests count, where you can take them, and how often.
Here is what the current guidance actually says, and what it means in practice.
Only Specific Computer-Based Tests Are Accepted
The biggest change is that the FAA now names the computer-based colour vision tests it will accept for pilot screening rather than leaving it open. The accepted instruments are the Colour Assessment and Diagnosis (CAD) test, the Rabin Cone Test in its military version, and the Waggoner computerized colour vision tests.
Tests that are not specifically listed are not acceptable. This is the part that trips people up, because plenty of colour vision tests exist and most of them are perfectly legitimate for other purposes. For an aviation medical, “a colour vision test” and “an accepted colour vision test” are different things.
If you want to check the current list yourself, it is published in the FAA Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners. I would rather you read the source than take my word for it, and the list can change.
Testing Has to Happen in Person
The guidance is explicit that approved computer-based colour vision testing must be performed in person. Virtual, downloaded and printed versions are not accepted.
This one causes real frustration, because a search for the test name turns up versions you can run at home in five minutes. Those results are not usable for certification, no matter how the test looks on screen. Screen calibration, viewing distance, and ambient lighting all affect colour contrast measurements, which is a large part of why in-person testing is required at all.
The Screening Is One Time
Under current guidance, computer-based colour vision screening is a one-time screening. A returning pilot who historically passed an accepted colour vision test does not need to take the computer-based test again.
I mention this because it saves people money, and because I would rather tell you upfront than have you drive to an appointment you did not need. If you have passed an accepted test before, bring that up when you call.
What the Standard Is
For the Rabin Cone Test, the FAA standard is a score of 55 or higher for each colour, red, green and blue, tested in each eye separately.
Each individual score has to meet the threshold on its own. A high score in one channel does not offset a lower score in another, which is a meaningful difference from a plate test where the overall count of missed plates is what gets recorded.
Testing Somewhere Other Than Your AME
Many Aviation Medical Examiners do not have an accepted computerized test in their office. The equipment is specialised and most general AME practices have not invested in it.
The FAA anticipates this. Its guidance allows testing to be completed at a separate clinic, with the patient bringing the printed results back to the examiner. If your AME tells you they cannot test you in-house, that is normal and there is an established path forward.
That path is the reason our practice sees pilots from well beyond our own communities. We provide Rabin Cone Contrast Testing at our Pasco and Sunnyside offices in Washington and our Hermiston office in Oregon, at $150, with the official report the same visit.
What This Means If You Are Starting Flight Training
If you are early in training, get the colour vision question answered before you have spent significant money on instruction.
I have met student pilots who were well into training before anyone raised colour vision. That is an avoidable and expensive surprise. A ten-minute test early on tells you where you stand while you still have options about how to proceed.
What Has Not Changed
Colour vision is one part of aviation medical certification, not the whole of it. FAA medical standards also cover distant and near visual acuity, and meeting the colour standard does not by itself clear a medical certificate.
And the decision still belongs where it always has. I perform testing and provide the report. Your Aviation Medical Examiner and the FAA determine certification eligibility. Nothing about the 2025 changes altered that, and any clinic suggesting otherwise is overstating what a test result does.
Confirm Before You Rely on Any of This
FAA requirements and accepted testing methods are subject to change, and this article reflects the guidance as it stands. Before you make decisions based on it, confirm the current requirements with your AME or on FAA.gov.
If you need testing, call the office nearest you. Rabin testing is scheduled by phone rather than through online booking so we can reserve the correct appointment type and confirm you actually need the test before you drive in.