United terminates "disabled" pilot
 

Well he gets an A for effort.

https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2023/03/19/pilot-sues-united-airlines-after-he-was-terminated-when-he-filed-a-disability-insurance-claim-just-six-days-after-he-was-enrolled-in-the-plan/

No he doesn’t. He is trying to take advantage of all of us. The is claiming he became color blind…in 6 days. This is a BS claim IMHO. If he is successful expect lots of people getting hired just to take advantage of this necessary safety net that many pilots depend on. In my opinion he is taking advantage of our weakest pilots and putting all of us in a horrible position with a long term disability program that would become insolvent.

Scumbag.
He probably had an easy AME that pushed him through all these years and now retired or died.
A Captain made a remark during a flight and he figured he’d get caught sooner or later.

On that timeline, dude wouldn't have finished initial sims yet. He might not have even started them.

Maybe a sim instructor then, in any case he’s had a Private since ‘91 so not a young whippersnapper.
https://www.faasafety.gov/SPANS/even...eid=76706&pf=1

Or he can still see fine but claims he can’t so that he can collect a check. I really don’t know anything about this case other then what has been posted here but man, this seems pretty fishy.

I asked my AME once since I've been doing the color blindness test for a lot of years if you could go color blind if you weren't born that way. His answer was very simple: no (excluding some kind of eye/head injury or eye disease).

If he looses the FAA could go after him if it’s proven he has been colorblind all along.

the pilot group should all bring a law suit against this individual for trying to steal pilot contributions from the LTD plan

Sheesh. I sure as heck wouldn’t want a jury of my peers loaded with fellow pilots. Why is it judgement comes before facts, just like the self proclaimed experts on accidents and incidents before the fires are out? This guy may very well be trying to game the system. Then again, maybe not. Personally, I’ll trust my crew mates far more than I trust management.

If he has been passing color vision tests all along and cannot now, how is the FAA able to go after him for being colorblind all along?

Go after the AME

The commute burned him out so quickly that he found himself in a colorless gray world.

Keep paying those premiums chumps.

Seems like got his medical back....

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N22AZ

“Passing” or otherwise knowingly applying for a medical with fraudulent intent.
It would have to be proven there is no evidence of sudden color vision loss.
Well if he’s still claiming and there is no “sudden” then it must have been there before.
It takes a lot to fail a color test. There’s the Ishihara then an alternate test or two then the lantern test.

It's funny this comes up now. I just asked my AME the same question 5 months ago and he said the same. He added that he asked the guy that came to observe him doing exams why this was tested on every exam. I can't remember the answer given but it wasn't convincing as a "we need to do this" argument.

Fwiw, my AME is a pilot.

Incidents/accidents, virology, economics, law. Pilots are experts in every field imaginable. Who knew? Bet the same people love when a passenger comments on anything aviation related.

you must know the guy, and if this is in fact him, his lawsuit is done and he’s about to be countersued.

Well, it is his airplane. Doesn't mean he's flying it, but even the worlds worst investigator would be able to do some sleuthing and determine that.

True. I’ve seen pilots do even dumber things, but would be incredible if the guy actually tried to get away with this, although not unbelievable. Lol

A quick google search shows that although it’s not common, you can develop color blindness for a number of reasons later in life. It’s possible that’s what happened. I know a guy who had an AME for years in Florida that never did an eye test of any kind. Many people used that AME. People went to him from all over the country. Eventually he was busted for basically handing out medicals. It’s possible this guy was in a similar situation and finally had to go to a legit AME that gave him a real eye test. It’s also possible he’s full of crap and deserved to be fired. It does seem really fishy but if this guy is smart enough to get hired at United, wouldn’t you think he’d be smart enough to realize how fishy this would look and he wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t legit? The truth will (maybe) be revealed at some point.

Like what, get married 4,5,6,7 times? Inquiry minds want to know.

Getting caught running a *****house is right up there.

Certain flying partners on MNL & BOG layovers come to mind…

what’s wrong with ruining a *****House? Oh , wait, you said getting caught. Yeah, that’s bad.

if you do this job, you’re fully aware you could sit in the right seat and never need to discern the colors on a taxiway. Follow along with the Jepps amm, and let the Capt taxi. The dude’s timing is hilariously suspect. He’s been flying his whole life, and then miraculously the problem appears a week after being eligible. 🤔

oh, but he could apparently see in the sim huh….just enough to get the football over the ltd eligibility goal. Come on man, ain’t nobody buying it.

His situation is suspect but color blindness is very common in males im partially green colorblind depending on the test i may or may not pass. Ishihara plates are fine others not so much.i went my first 24 years of life never knowing till the military told me i was colorblind to certain shades of green.

There are a ton of pilots with some degree of color blindness actively flying.

100% this.

Its not uncommon to be color blind suddenly. It can happen later in life due to numerous reasons. Sure the timing is a little suspect, but who are we to judge? If you got into a car crash 1 day after your medical, and claimed disability, would you like people calling you suspect? Let's not judge other people's disability.

Let the lawsuit play out. If he wins and proves he is in fact colorblind, you all will feel really stupid and he is getting one hell of a payout.

I was issued a SODA via demonstrated ability after many years of fearful medicals. I had a good AME that walked me through the process. I have no limits, and don’t even need to take the stupid test. If they start putting pastel colors into the taxi lights that may be a problem.

Also, anyone ever seen a tower use a light gun signal? I did twice. Once because I asked them to, and the second time during my FAA test. That was 20 plus years ago.

He’ll have to prove it occurred.
You know, records of medical visits to specialists yadayadayada.
Did he report these in his medical applications, you know like we all supposed to do?
Why did he continue flying if he knew he had a disqualifying condition yadayadayada.
He has got a little way to go before he van de late this a win.

He never lost the medical during the day. He lost the privilege to fly at night. That flight was in the day.

It doesn’t actually work that way and there are requirements to see day colors. He could downgrade to a sport license but the aircraft he flew would not be legal. He can apply for a SODA but that should cover his commercial flying if approved.

I had to use the light gun twice.. Years ago when I was working on my commercial cert. Cleared to "taxi into position and hold" as we used to say it. Read back clearance and taxied into position and then radio silence. After a couple minutes we noticed the light gun signals from the tower. Simple stuck mic but we didn't know until we saw the lights. Second time was after a complete electrical failure on corporate flight while taxiing out at Dallas Love about 15 years or so ago. I just turned the airplane to face the tower and waited for the signal.

Had to use it quite a bit actually. Many times as a primary (deliberate) way of staying off the radio and a few because of comm or electrical malfunctions. Doesn’t matter at all until you need it, then suddenly it’s a critical skill/ability.

It actually does work that way. You leave the doctors office with a medical, it has a restriction put on it that saysnot valid for night flying or by color signal control.
United will not allow you to fly with that restriction.
Here is a good article. At the end of it it says:”If you fail the color vision testing during your medical exam you will have the restriction of not valid for night flying or by color signal control”

https://www.color-blindness.com/2009/07/30/color-blind-testing-guide-for-pilot-applicants/