Would you tick the box?
Its a familiar story to a lot of you who read this forum I'm sure, but I have been denied a Class 1 medical. The reason is I'm a migraine sufferer. Firstly I would like to say that I fully understand the decision here, and I genuinely believe the staff at the CAA do try and accomodate each case within certain sensible limits.
My question is, in some cases do people "forget" to mention certain conditions if they themselves believe them to be inconsequential to safety?
My migraine affliction is so mild that I genuinely forgot to mention it on my Class 2 form (which incidently the CAA happily renewed in lieu of my Class 1).
I have one attack every year to 18 months or so. The attack has two phases, a "weird" phase that lasts about 15 minutes (hand numbness, light sensitivity and peripheral vision weirdness), and a head-ache phase that lasts a day (although this is very mild). So I am technically out of action for 15 minutes every 12 to 18 months. They also always strike on a weekend or holiday (although I can never be sure of this in the future).
I think I made the right decision to declare this, I'm an "honesty is the best policy" kind of guy, it just got me thinking about others who may want a career in this industry more than me and are prepared to do more to get it.
Interested to hear your thoughts...
FYI - for you migraine sufferers, the CAA told me to come back after 3 years without an attack, but this is because mine are so infrequent. If you suffer one a week, they might let you come back in a few months!