Whilst thinking, I thought it would be a good idea to post my experiences of the medical. In brief, I had always thought about a class 1 at Gatwick, but due to the eyesight (which is borderline) and the fact that it would be a complete nightmare getting to Gatwick and spending £420 - I went for the class 2. I just wanted to get flying and that was that.
So I got intouch with my local AME (and what a fantastic bloke he is) and booked it.
I arrived and was asked to produce a urine sample - the nurse gave me a littler pot and pointed me in the direction of the gents. After waiting a little longer, I met the chap who I spoke to on the phone a few times, my AME. He is a very nice chap indeed, a keen aviator himself so was very on par with me. He gave me the usual tests, height, weight etc and made notes as we went along, filling in forms.
The eye examinations were similar to that you would experience in an optician, but there were 2 other tests which I had never done before. One of them I think was a prism test, which involved looking through a pair of red tinted goggles, and rotating a wheel in the side, until the vertical line came into position of the light. I cant quite remember what this was testing off the top of my head. A few eye tests down the line, it was time for the ECG. This was very straight forward and involved attatching clapms to my wrists and ankles, then electrodes to my chest (which do leave a rather large red mark). Then it was just a case of relaxing for 30 or so seconds to get a reading, which turned out normal.
The thing that I had to do to pass the eyetest was get my optometrist who done my last eye check, to fill in a form with my details and basically sign it saying thay my eyes were healthy and no problems etc.
I actually had the medical 2 weeks ago and just recieved my certificate the other day. It is a hurdle overcome and one can relax knowing I can go solo (and actually get the PPL I supppose)
Aside from the medical - I would actually like this thread to become more than a diary - like some kind of reference or learning point (as it already seems to have done so). I will post (and others are welcome to) my difficulties and any areas that I find tough (yes such as NAV and the 'whizz-wheel') and I have no doubt in my mind that you kind people will come on and help out
Until Hour 5
Lee
