help about a medical!

[Chrishammersley]

Could anyone help me please?!!
i'm 17 and looking to be a pilot, the problem is i do not know if i would pass a medical exam, i'm fit and healthy and my eyesight and hearing is fine, but i suffer from very accute asthma. my uncle who is a pilot keeps telling me to do a medical exam, if i pass i pass, if i dont i'm screwed! the only problem is, the exam costs £411 and it only lasts one year, and in the year when i will be 17 to 18, i would hardly do any flying. i'm not rich but i'm not poor but i cant really afford to spend £411 and not do anything with it, could anybody help me and try to persuad me in some way?!!
cheers, Chris.

[Blinkz]

well theres no way around it mate you are just going to have to do the medical. There is no point in doing any of the training unless you know that you can pass it. Once you have sat the initial exam you'll be ok, the yearly renewal is much less hassle and also much cheaper. So basically I say go an do your medical, your only other option is to call the CAA and ask them what your likelyhood of passing is with your condition. This would obviously save you alot of cash.

[Bealzebub]

Hi Chris,

I think your uncles advice is very wise. The only people who can give you a definite answer are the CAA medical branch. Although the cost is over £400, and no doubt money you can ill afford to waste, it still represents less than 1% of the cost of obtaining a professional licence.

At the risk of sounding rather negative, I suspect that any chronic condition and that would include asthma, is going to preclude you from obtaining a class 1 certificate. You could always get some preliminary advice from your own GP or if you have one the specialist you see for your acute asthma. However if you decide to pursue this career you will need to have a class 1 certificate, and it would be money well spent at a very early stage.

[redsnail]

Go to the CAA's website and follow their links for the medical section. Search and find what the peak flow limits are and so forth. Print it out. Go to your local doctor and get him/her to do the various tests and see what you come up with.
WIth those results contact the medical branch of the CAA and see what they have to say.

[earnest]

That's a good piece of advice from Redsnail which will save you money. Perhaps an advance on that is to get checked out by one of the AMEs who do class one medicals. It will cost you, but probably less than 100 UKP, and they can also cover many of the tests included in the class one. This won't count for a CAA/JAR medical certificate but could give you a good indication of whether it is worth pursuing a full Class One from the CAA.

Good luck.