The weather crapped out on me again, so I spent most of the day studying for my Student Pilot Permit or “PSTAR” for short. The PSTAR is a mandatory written test required by Transport Canada prior to a student being allowed to solo. It is a series of 50 multiple choice questions covering procedures, communications, air law, collision avoidance, etc. You must score a minimum of 90% in order to pass. It is similar, in some ways, to a learner’s permit for driving a car and hopefully insures that you won’t be a menace to your own safety or that of others.
In addition to various written tests, student pilots must also complete a Class 3 medical exam. The medical is fairly standard, with a lot of emphasis on vision for obvious reasons. Now, I don’t have any problem with my eyesight, but I am red-green colour blind. Unfortunately, this means that I have a restriction on my licence prohibiting me from flying at night. I’m sure Transport Canada could give you all sorts of good reasons why this should be the case. While I don’t have any aspirations of making a career out of flying, I can’t imagine how devastating it must be for young men (colour blindness is mostly a male condition) with dreams of becoming airline pilots or fighter jocks. Not much good at either if you can’t fly at night. Although, theoretically I guess I could fly bush planes in the summer north of 60 and in the winter down at the southern tip of South America...
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