Biting the bullet
Thanks Skystar for your response. I too would be happy to share my experience with CAA once I've jumped through all the hoops they require of me. Living with HIV is quite a lot to deal with, let alone having to deal with the stress of confronting an organisation with the infection and putting your entire career on the line. I'm certain the process would be less stressful and frustrating if the CAA here were more forthcoming with information on the subject. But I tend to agree with Homonculus's comments; there are plenty of reasons why the various authorities are twitchy about seropositivity, however as we move into an age where meds are better and the health of HIV positive individuals can be as good as HIV negative candidates, they are taking a more sympathetic approach; where once it was a 'no', now it's a 'maybe'.
For those that want to know, the CAA here have already declined my Class 1 application given that one of the three meds I take was considered unacceptable in an aviation environment. They said they'd consider a reapplication if I changed my combination. So after consultation with my HIV doctor and considerable research conducted by the CAA as to the possible alternatives we came up with, I finally changed from the 'evil' efavirenze to nevirapine. My combination is now nevirapine, emtricitabine and tenofovir - all of which MAY be approved by the CAA provided the results from 3 months of fortnightly blood testing on the new combination come out ok (and so far so good).
The final hoop to jump through will be the neuro-psych assessment in just under a month's time. For those in Auckland in the same position, don't go to the CAA recommended psychologist, as he's double the market rate. (He's obviously in bed with the CAA.) There's a guy called James Webb in Greenlane who does it for half the cost and was recommended by my AME. I've just saved you $1,000!
I'll keep you posted as to how this all goes but I anticipate that in about 2 months (12 months after my initial class 1 examination) I will have the result I'm after. I'm resigned to the potential for a single pilot no pax restriction and as I have no control over this, I will just have to take whatever is delivered to me. It appears that with CASA and the FAA, this is automatic. The UK CAA are a little more lenient. As for the NZ CAA, well, let's just wait and see...