Blinkz,
Had my Initial Class 1 on Tuesday and passed!
To give you some details as to what to expect. This may differ as in the UK initial class 1 issues have to be done at Aviation House down at LGW. I went through it in the following order:
1) Eye test. I was due to have this done first due to my bad eye sight. This, for me, was fairly intensive similar to an eye test done at your local Specsavers.
2) Pee test. Guess they'll tell you if something's out of the ordinary
3) Hearing test. This is in two parts with a sound booth type check and also another check for your ear drumb. Once again, pretty straight forward.
4) ECG. This for me was done at rest lying on a bed. I do know that some of the more senior people get to do a stress ECG. All it really is is about 12 sensors placed at various locations on your body and you have to breathe normally for a couple of minutes why they take the readings.
5) Lung capacity. This involves blowing into a tube to measure the capacity and also the force. I'm an ex smoker and got through this fine
6) Blood check. This is for colesterol and another check which has slipped my mind. This is the pin prick type and pretty harmless
7) Doctor inspection. Chest, joints etc etc.... Just like a checkout from your GP
8) Chest x-ray.
9) Finally the EEG. This to me was the most worrying as it will show any tendancy for epilepsy even if you have never had a fit. Probably one of the longest ones due to the time it takes to attach the sensors to your scalp. You then sit in a darkened room and breathe normally with your eye's open and closed. You then do a rapid breathing check for 3 minutes and then the worst for me, is the srobe light. The stobe is placed about a foot from your eye's and you have to look at the light for about 5-10 sec and then close your eye's. This is repeated about 6 more times with the light at various speeds. I guess is nothing to worry about if you can happily spend a Friday or Sat night down your local club or get through those films where they warn you of stobe lighting.
Hope that gives you some idea as to what to expect. Its not as bad as you think and I wish you all the best Blinkz!
Splashdown