Hi there. Have decided to apply to try and be an ATCO and had a couple of questions on the way the application process is run.
Now, one of my eyes is nearly -7, the other nearly -6, apart from that, eyes are very healthy and corrected vision is pretty perfect.
My eyesight went when i was about 7, so the deterioration was quite constant at the beignning, tailed off, and has now been constant for years. When i've asked any optician, they have all said they would not expect somebody like me to deteriorate any further from what I am now.
After doing my initial research on the role i obviously saw one of the eligiblity requirements for the medical certificate was to be up to within range +5 to -6. But if just outside this range to call CAA medical for advice. So i did this, and was told that my current prescription wouldn't preclude me from applying for the ATCO job with NATS, and that their ophthalmologists would look to even tweak my prescription.
To be honest, this was better news than i was expecting(i think the fact i can provide proof of my stable prescription may have helped), but im not sure I can believe it. Does this ring true with anybody who had a similar eyesight prescription when they applied?
Other thing that is worrying me is that on the initial application form that needs to be sent before you are invited to any stages, it asks you to enter your full eyesight prescription. If i put down that i am -6 & -7, does that mean my application will just be put straight onto the 'No' pile without any further consideration by somebody in HR? Or is this just filed until the end of the stages for when I get my full medical?(assuming i get that far).
This is my dream job, and after being pretty down on my chances for eyesight, what my opticians and the CAA medical advisor told me has gave me some hope, but I wouldn't like to think my application will be junked straight away without the chance to take a look at me further.
Sorry for the long winded post, any advice or comments be much appreciated!