08-16-2019, 12:02 PM
Finally a good news story - 
Via today's Oz:
Colour blindness no impediment to flying for RFDS pilot Greg King
![[Image: d572b9265d33c0b6e9000e50156b1d4f?width=650]](https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/d572b9265d33c0b6e9000e50156b1d4f?width=650)
In 19 years of working for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Greg King covered three million kilometres — or the equivalent of flying to the moon and back four times.
Based in Mount Isa in northwest Queensland, King attended all manner of medical emergencies, from plane and car crashes to horse accidents, and made many friends along the way.
But perhaps the most impressive aspect of his glorious career is the fact it happened at all.
“I was told many years ago by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority I could never fly a glass cockpit because I failed what was then called a ‘last chance colour vision test’,” King says.
“I’ve been flying a pure glass cockpit now for 10 years on my own, so colour vision is not a hurdle.”
He has pilots Arthur Pape and Hugh Jonathon Denison to thank for eventually achieving that dispensation.
Both fought CASA in court, winning the right to fly at night despite being among the 8 per cent of the male population with colour vision deficiency (CVD).
“There are still very few people in Australia who have that dispensation (to fly at night with CVD),” King says.
“Others give up because CASA just throws too many hurdles in front of them.”
![[Image: 2f3a753c5849e1407c5a3c507eb42671?width=650]](https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/2f3a753c5849e1407c5a3c507eb42671?width=650)
It’s a rule King would dearly love to see reversed, convinced that CVD has no adverse effects for pilots.
“As far as CASA is concerned, if you’re not colour perfect you can’t fly. Now the US Marines have colour-defective pilots and they have a better safety record than the colour-perfect pilots,” he says. “But CASA has this bee in their bonnet for some reason and it’s an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) thing as well.”
![[Image: 4f90c2bc7e903f4756944bea11cc64f4?width=650]](https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/4f90c2bc7e903f4756944bea11cc64f4?width=650)
His wife of 47 years, Jane King, says flying for the RFDS was all Greg ever wanted to do, but when he got his private pilot’s licence at the age of 34 he was basically told to “forget it”.
“He went for an interview at Sunshine Coast Air Charter and as we were walking out the door, the guy said to me ‘talk him out of it, he won’t get a job’,” Mrs King recalls. “I said ‘I can’t do that’, and then Greg worked for that man, Lester Neideck, for nine and a half years.”
When the opening arose with the RFDS, King did not hesitate, taking a two-year contract based in Mount Isa — which turned into almost two decades.
“Mount Isa is the best flying you could possibly get. It’s magnificent country, but the people is what the job’s all about,” he says.
“You’re out there helping someone in the outback and they’re always pleased to see you no matter what time of day or night you turn up.” Often, landing strips would be lit with just car headlights or toilet bowls on fire with kerosene, and King proved time and time again his proficiency as a pilot regardless of CVD.
“Safety is the essence of everything as a single pilot and in aviation if you stick to the rules, it’s inherently very safe,” he says.
MTF...P2
Via today's Oz:
Colour blindness no impediment to flying for RFDS pilot Greg King
In 19 years of working for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Greg King covered three million kilometres — or the equivalent of flying to the moon and back four times.
Based in Mount Isa in northwest Queensland, King attended all manner of medical emergencies, from plane and car crashes to horse accidents, and made many friends along the way.
But perhaps the most impressive aspect of his glorious career is the fact it happened at all.
“I was told many years ago by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority I could never fly a glass cockpit because I failed what was then called a ‘last chance colour vision test’,” King says.
“I’ve been flying a pure glass cockpit now for 10 years on my own, so colour vision is not a hurdle.”
He has pilots Arthur Pape and Hugh Jonathon Denison to thank for eventually achieving that dispensation.
Both fought CASA in court, winning the right to fly at night despite being among the 8 per cent of the male population with colour vision deficiency (CVD).
“There are still very few people in Australia who have that dispensation (to fly at night with CVD),” King says.
“Others give up because CASA just throws too many hurdles in front of them.”
It’s a rule King would dearly love to see reversed, convinced that CVD has no adverse effects for pilots.
“As far as CASA is concerned, if you’re not colour perfect you can’t fly. Now the US Marines have colour-defective pilots and they have a better safety record than the colour-perfect pilots,” he says. “But CASA has this bee in their bonnet for some reason and it’s an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) thing as well.”
His wife of 47 years, Jane King, says flying for the RFDS was all Greg ever wanted to do, but when he got his private pilot’s licence at the age of 34 he was basically told to “forget it”.
“He went for an interview at Sunshine Coast Air Charter and as we were walking out the door, the guy said to me ‘talk him out of it, he won’t get a job’,” Mrs King recalls. “I said ‘I can’t do that’, and then Greg worked for that man, Lester Neideck, for nine and a half years.”
When the opening arose with the RFDS, King did not hesitate, taking a two-year contract based in Mount Isa — which turned into almost two decades.
“Mount Isa is the best flying you could possibly get. It’s magnificent country, but the people is what the job’s all about,” he says.
“You’re out there helping someone in the outback and they’re always pleased to see you no matter what time of day or night you turn up.” Often, landing strips would be lit with just car headlights or toilet bowls on fire with kerosene, and King proved time and time again his proficiency as a pilot regardless of CVD.
“Safety is the essence of everything as a single pilot and in aviation if you stick to the rules, it’s inherently very safe,” he says.
MTF...P2