FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine 
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-25/17

Title and Subtitle: Exploring the Relationship between Operational Errors and Color Vision Deficiency

Report Date: April 2025

Authors: Crutchfield, Jerry

Abstract:
We analyzed Operational Error (OE) data and data from the Office of Aerospace Medicine that identified 87 Color Vision Deficient (CVD) Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCSs) to explore the relationship of color vision deficiency with the occurrence of OEs. Our first analysis searched 70 OE narratives, recorded across 12 years, for OEs where CVD ATCSs were involved. We found no reports that identified color vision or the inability to distinguish colors as a possible contributor to a loss of separation. Next, we attempted to determine if CVD ATCSs were involved in a similar number of OEs as their Color Vision Normal (CN) co-workers. We compared number of OEs occurring from 1995 to 2006 for 87 ATCSs identified as CVD with two sets of matched pairs of CN ATCSs to determine if CVD ATCSs were at a greater risk of being involved in an OE as compared to CN ATCS. We matched CVD ATCSs with CN ATCSs who had the same number of years of experience, worked in the same type of facilities, and were approximately the same age. The comparison of the number of OEs between the three groups was inconclusive due to the small effect size associated with the occurrence of OEs and the resulting lack of statistical power. However, a significant difference was found between the number of OEs in which CVD ATCSs were implicated during the time period from 2001 to 2006 as compared with the time period from 1995 to 2000. The number of OEs in which CVD ATCSs were involved went up after the introduction of ATC display systems in the year 2000 that made more use of color.

Key Words: Color Vision Deficient Air Traffic Control Specialists, Operational Error, Color Vision Normal Air Traffic Control Specialists

No. of Pages: 26