Options

[Elvis21]

Have pretty much written off a career flying until recently I am investigating what my options may be for a career in flying without a Class 1 Medical. I have astigmatism that of -2.25 which even with laser surgery I believe would preclude me from obtaining a Class 1.
So, my question is, are there any options available to me other than FI?

Cheers all.

[welliewanger]

Two things:
1. To earn money flying, you need a CPL. To get that you need a Class 1 medical.

2. Most importantly. CHECK THE REQUIREMENTS! I've got astigmatism too and I've got a CPL. Your eyesight can be pretty bad, but as long as you can get 20/20 while wearing glasses it's pretty much always OK.

Good luck.

[Elvis21]

thanks welliewanger, do you know what your prescription is? I was told that if you had astigmatism of -2.25 or greater you could not obtain a Class 1 medical even with corrective surgery or glasses.

[kaptene]

yes, CPL requires a CLass I. As long as your astigmatisme does not worsen, you should be alright, if you can see 10/10 you're ok !

[Genghis the Engineer]

A correction or two:

Two things:
1. To earn money flying light or heavy civil aeroplanes, you need a CPL. To get that you need a Class 1 medical.

Good luck.

But, as Welliewanger was probably about to say, there are numerous jobs in and around flying that don't. Most of the military back-seat / crew jobs, microlight/balloon/gyroplane instructor, aviation journalist, flight test engineer (although the training for that is rather nastier than a CPL, the medical requirements are reasonably painless), commercial balloon instructor, airborne photographer, flight engineer, police observer, simulator development engineer.....

None necessarily easy to get into with loads of vacant jobs - but then neither is commercial flying.

G

[glag]

Two things:
1. To earn money flying, you need a CPL. You need much more than that.... :}

[welliewanger]

Genghis - You're absolutely right. I'm just lazy.

Glag - OKokok, yes, there's a lot more actually required. Again, I'm lazy.

Elvis - I'm -1.25 in one eye and -1.75 in the other my astigmatism is something like 0.25. Here's the comprehensive requirements:
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/49/InitialJARClass1Sep09.pdf

Are you familiar with the difference between short / long sight and astigmatism? From what I've read you can have +5.00 to -6.00 dioptres total with an astigmatism of up to 2.00 dioptres.

This might preclude you. But don't assume anything (we all know what Oscar Wilde said about assuming things) Take the above document to your optician and ask.

Good luck.