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Old 13th January 2003 | 11:54
  #19 (permalink)  
GordonBurford
 
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 45
Likes: 0
From: Oxford(ish)
Another option.... Another story.....

Think about this. My distance vision easily exceeds 20/20, after corrective lenses. But i've got other problems as well.

I was 26 (now 29) when I got something called Empi. This basically damaged the retinas in my eyes. I have normal vision in my right eye, and some loss/disturbance of central vision in my left eye. I don't think I could hold a CPL in the UE, let alone an ATPL. If i'd followed the career path i'd wanted into aviation I might have been fortunate enough to have had 5-8 years of flying PPL, then maybe twins, Turbo props, and been looking for my first Airline job, just in time for a medical disqualification... Which would not have been good if i'd got a mortgage to pay for the course... Real world, it can happen. Go and ask at Oxford job centre (I have), they have a lot of newly-qualified pilots on their books... Income support doesn't pay enough to keep you "current" for very long, does it?

As it happens I followed a career into Engineering and IT so I don't rely on perfect vision for my career. But I do I have the same problem that you might one day face. I don't have much in the way of GCSEs and so on because I left school at 17 due to terminal boredom (due to lack of challenge). I do have the relevant industry qualifications, and quite a lot of experiance. But I know that many larger organisations won't give me a second glance because i'm not a graduate (yes, they prefer people who prefered to get drunk and lay in bed all day to people who went out to WORK for a living at 17!).

Last point!

Have you spoken to the RAF? I'm not suggesting you necessarily go for flight-crew roles with them, but they do offer cheap flying experiance to certain non-flying roles I understand. Perhaps someone could tell us more about that?

As for me? Well, i'm pretty sure flying for a living is out (at least in the UK) because when I was diagnosed I was actually asked if I was a pilot!. My pipe-dream is that one day I might save enough money to get out of here and go somewhere with less demanding requirements for flight-crew eyesight (any suggestions, anyone?). It can't be all that bad, after all, because they let me have a LGV licence with it as it is! But it's probably more realistic to hope for a Glider chitty or maybe a PPL some day. Who knows, if the IT thing works out, I might even be able to buy my own Microlight (instead of a Porsche!).
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