My astigmatism became too high for RAF flying, however what was mentioned about astigmatism and contact lenses isnt strictly true - quite a lot of people wear contact lenses and by that i dont even mean the special torric ones!
The problem i had with Aer Lingus was they had their own medical standards - they wouldnt allow anyone with eyesight worse than -1.25, this is quite easy to have if you are astigmatic.
As far as CTC are concerned it is Class 1 medical which you can get from the CAA's website. If in doubt you could go along for one but its going to cost you £400(ish).
I thought i would post my feedback up because I saw a lot of posts saying "no feedback" etc. It was quite comprehensive, but i felt it was contradictory eg. they seemed to focus on my only getting 5 C's at A-Level 10years ago, but didnt ask about me getting a 1st in Mechanical Engineering, an MBA or becoming Chartered. They said i didnt show committment but i said i would give up my cycling career and travelled all the way from Stockholm.
I dont know if i can re-apply to CTC, but at the same time Im not sure whether i want to now. I live with my SO and am a director at Brambles Group so Im comfortable in life, it also means I can easily plan my social life as a semi-professional cyclist (something which i told CTC i would give up to show my committment but it didnt seem to effect their opinion).
My comment to people would be that your career is reflected by the people that know you the best. People will think this comment is arrogant, but I had a lot to offer and the interviewers somehow missed half of what i said and focused on what i felt were trivial insignificant things.