Hi all, having passed all tests and interview for ATCO training I now face the dreaded medical. After some searching I found the requirements which was quite a list. What caught my eye in more ways than one was the fact that refractive eyesurgery was a big no-no, but that exceptions could be made if a number of factors are fulfilled. Since I have done that kind of surgery over ten years ago I started to feel butterflies in my stomach. My biggest worry is that one of those factors are that the original nearsightedness can at most be -6 diopters and I had -8.
If this disqualifies me thereīs not much to be done. I have my hopes up since itīs been a long time since I did the surgery and I have had stable eyesight with no deteriation since. I can not really understand where the -6 figure comes from, for me it seems more prudent to look at the result. I can also understand if pilots have certain requirements but some (all?) of those for ATCOs seem to be simply copied from the pilots list. Obviously an ATCO must have good eyesight so as to not miss anything looking at a monitor/radar screen or standing at a tower, but the current eyesight should matter, especially since I have a fair bit of time with no changes.
My opinions are of course coloured since this is something that is likely to cut short my hopes for an ATCO career and this post can in part be considered a ventilation of frustration, but Iīm still interested in your thoughts, opinions and most importantly experience of the application of these rules. Are they rock solid or can one argue ones case? I already have a pilots license and can fly around the skies, but apparently not sit behind a screen watching dots move around
Cheers!