NATS entry medical

[Kippers]

If an ATCO applicant fails the NATS entry medical is there any recourse, by getting a second opinion or by going and getting a CAA Class 1 medical? I failed on grounds of colour vision deficiency, something I wasn't even aware of previously. Within a few minutes of failing 2 plates on the Ishihara test then failing the lantern test I was on the train home from Swanwick

After getting a conditional offer to attend the college it's naturally very disappointing to get chopped at this stage, but it would be good to know whether or not it's terminal.

So my question is... are there any controllers out there who had problems getting through on their colour vision? I know there are ways of getting by this for pilots (different countries do different tests), your advice please as I'm not sure if I'm ready to give up just yet.

[Brian81]

I may be wrong, but when I joined NATS (2003) the medical they sent me for was the class one. Mine was held in the building under the [now old] control tower at Heathrow.

I'm not sure this information will help you though.

I think first thing to do is find out which medical you didnt pass. Was it a NATS internal medical (unlikely I'm afraid) or the Class one.

If its a NATS internal (if they even exist) then you may be able to pay for an ACTUAL class one yourself (I reckon about £250?), but; you do run the risk of failing this one - especially if you failed the last, in which case I'm sorry but the class one is needed for an ATCO licence. You wont get an ATCO licence without a class one.

I'm not sure how 'appeals' are handled in your current standing as "an applicant" (pre-employment).

Kind regards anyhoo,

Bri

Traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

[NeoDude]

The NATS medical is an internal one now as the CAA have decided that they must carry out all initial Class 1 medicals. They coach the whole class up to Gatwick for the class 1 at the beginning of your course. If you have trouble at the NATS medical then you must get the class 1 from Gatwick before you start. I failed the ECG at the NATS medical and had to have an investigation. I had an echoscan, Cardiac MRI & 24hr BP test organised by my GP. NATS then gave me the go ahead to go to Gatwick where I was given a Stress ECG and 24hr ECG.

I'm sorry to say that colour vision test is pretty standard. You will get the exactly the same tests at Gatwick. It's strange that the makers of the ishihara plates state that 2 fails or below is considered a pass, but NATS and the CAA want you to pass all of them

I'm not sure what lantern tests are available at NATS but the CAA use 2, and one is by far easier than the other. Maybe worth your while booking a class 1 there.

[anotherthing]

The NATS medical is an internal one now as the CAA have decided that they must carry out all initial Class 1 medicals. They coach the whole class up to Gatwick for the class 1 at the beginning of your course.

Is the NATS Medical more/less/equally stringent then the CAA one? The above seems like a strange sequence of events to me. Basically NATS are having to pay for two medicals instead of one, if I read this correctly?

[timelapse]

In the good old days - people doing the NATS entry medical were automatically awarded a CAA Class one at the same time.

In April last year the CAA decided that NATS can no longer also issue CAA medicals (a byproduct of the politics arising from the privatisation I guess). This is fair enough as NATS is a separate entity, and therefore should really not have the power to issue the CAA medicals.

Because of this, NATS still want to do their own tests of you to work out if you're going to be fit enough for your whole career to be a worthy employee (as far as these things can tell). But the CAA Class One is obviously still needed for the licencing. Therefore now you have to do both! The NATS one is more stringent and as well as looking at the here and now is also looking further down the line. The CAA one only looks 1 or 2 years ahead to determine your fitness.

Hope this helps to clear things up..

[anotherthing]

Thanks, at least it makes business sense as well, havng the more stringent one first. Makes a change, doing things the correct way around

[Ali Bongo]

As someone else has said, I think (and I'm no doctor) if you have failed the colour test, you're in all likelyhood going to fail it again.

I can only pass the lantern test as I can't see anything in those books of numbers. I knew I was ever so slightly colour blind when I did my tests at Gatwick in 98 so I was always sweating on the results.

I can imagine how gutted you are.

If it cheers you up a bit, give our corporate comms a ring, they need someone like you to help out with our branding.

[Kippers]

Thanks for the comments, i'm going to speak to HR today and see what they have to say. I've actually passed the Ishihara plates before so there isn't any reason why I can't do it again, all in all the colour vision tests seem a bit inconsistent and there's plenty of literature out there that highlights the limitations of these tests.

So it's worth my while trying for the class 1 medical i reckon, fingers crossed....

[1967kev]

Medical History

Hi,

Can any of you guys tell me whether or not NATS will write to my GP for a medical history? The reason I ask is because my father had a heart attack a few years back and I don't want my GP telling NATS in case that has some sort of detremental effect on my application.

Thanks

[timelapse]

kev:

You have to declare family history of cardio problems on your medical initial form anyway so there's no hiding it. I wouldn't worry - my father has high cholesterol, angina and is on beta blockers and they didn't even mention it. I think it's more of a risk-factor analysis so they know if you need advice to best-protect yourself from developing problems later on.

[alfaman]

Kev - good luck, but don't even think about not declaring something, in the hope they won't find out: NATS take a very hard line, people have been terminated for "suddenly remembering" something which they should have declared; for example, a period, however short, on anti-depressants: the issue is not neccesarily the medication, it's not declaring it - they are testing your integrity as well as your medical fitness.

[45 before POL]

Kev ...as said before, don't worry, only rise they ask about previous is to assess risk, but if you are fit, no probs, my grandfather had a bypass op, my father and uncle had angina, me? no probs so far but still ok with medical.
Answering kippers question about colourblindness, if you had no problems with previous testing it is well worth following up on this, in a previous role i used to be a colourmatcher for a printing company and of course colour was integral to my job. the tests can seriously be influenced under certain lighting conditions and if i told you green(and mostother colours)) looked under flourescent/natural/bulb/ light all look slightly different in colour under these conditions so can influence a persons perception of what they see. ..Have you seen a car under a streetlamp at night look orange only when close up is red