I was scrolling back, looking at posts,(I am new to this board) and came across your post regarding the Air Canada color test.
I had the same misgivings as yourself, I do not do well on those numbers in the circles tests, I can't remember what they told me my deficiency is, red/brown? There are quite a few of those hockey pucks that show a number to "normal" color vision, to me they could be two goats screwing. Apparently this is almost exclusively a male problem, the nurses laughed & said the number was quite prominent.
If I remember correctly, (11 years ago) the nurse told me 4 wrong answers signified a color deficiency. The nurse gave me all the help she could, asking me to trace the number with my finger, ("that helps quite a few people")when it became obvious that I was over 4 wrong I was administered another test. I was given a tray with about 15 little (1") wooden milk bottles, each a slightly different color. They were lined in order, beginning with the "yellowest", then progressing to greenish-green/bluish -green-blue. I was shown the tray, told they were in the correct order, then the bottles were dumped on the table, mixed up & bottle #1 was placed on the tray. I was then asked to line them up again by placing the closest color to bottle #1 beside it, and so on. When finished they flip the tray over, each bottle has a number on the bottom, I had lined them up correctly from 1-15 & that was good enough.
With my color deficiency I found this alternate test quite easy, the bottles were far enough apart in shading that it really wasn't hard to line them up.
For the 2 years at annual medicals they would again show me the hockey pucks. I politely told them I was not very good at that test but would try it again. They have not shown it to me in years. I wouldn't worry to much about the color test.
I saw comments regarding the hearing test, again not a big deal. I miss a spot that coincides with chain saw engine frequncy. Basically you sit in a soundproof chamber with a headset & push a button when you hear a tone. Each tone goes through about 5-6 volumn levels, then switches to a higher frequency. You do this for each ear, takes about 5 minutes. The tone spacing is not regular, to preclude guessing. You only do this every 5 years or so, although I asked for some additional tests after breaking an eardrum. This was for my own information, to see if the accident caused hearing loss and was not a demand from the Docs.
Despite some posts referring to unfriendly/arrogant medicals, Doctors, nurses etc, I have found the exact opposit to be the case. Almost all the same people have been there since I was hired 10 years ago, & they are invariably helpful & polite. The initial new hire pilot medical is a fairly involved process & I think the staff works pretty hard to push through all candidates. This is on top of all the thousands of other medicals they have to do, it isn't just pilots in that clinic- look at the records section, it is huge.
I never once felt that they were trying to fail anyone or that the process was adversarial, more like they wanted you to be successful. (and no, I didn't have any connections or relatives anywhere in the industry).
Despite all the naysayers, and bitching from current pilots, AC is a pretty damn good place to work, by far the best job I have ever had. When I think of the small companies my classmates & I flew for, it was pretty easy to see one or two total knobs in any company. When you only had 10 pilots that was a pretty high "knob factor". AC certainly is not free from those types, a few always manage to get through, but the percentage is pretty low. I think out of the hundreds I've worked with, there are only 1 or 2 that I seriously don't want to see again, and you don't have to, just bid around them. You get alot of choice in what you do, be it leanings to office work, union or line flying. Crappy schedules don't last forever, UNLESS of course you decide to bid to the bottom either for status or more money, but of course this is entirely of your own making. There is no Reichstag sending nasty grams telling you to be junior all your life. Yes progression at the bottom level has not been great due to turmoil in the industry these last few years, but things should pick up pretty swiftly now that the bankruptcy is behind us. Airlines certainly don't hold a monopoly in career stagnation.
Good luck with your aviation career, and some of it is just that, luck. I know AC used to have over 5000 active files for aspiring pilots, & this was years before the big expansion, I'm sure the numbers far exceed that now. The fact is there will be hundreds of very qualified people who don't get hired, or even called for an interview. Put yourself on the other side, you need 300 pilots, & have used a scoring process to obtain a list of 4000 well qualified individuals. How do you select the 300 lucky ones?
If it never comes to fruition, make alife elsewhere, there are some other good companies to work for. I enjoy my life, but so do friends who work for Westjet, Sky Service & others. AC certainly isn't the only game in town.
reply 4 T-Bone, re: color test
Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, lilfssister, North Shore, I WAS Birddog
That was a great post, thank you. One of the best posts I've seen on this topic yet, very informative. I couldn't agree more with you on the applicants versus positions available. A lot of good drivers will not make it to the mainline, which is unfortunate. Like you said though, there are other companies out there that provide just as much lifestyle. Thanks again.
You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
