What should I with my life?
 

Just found out today that my eyesight isn't good enough to be a ATC for NATS. I sort of expected it as i tryed to get a Class 1 medical 6 months ago but falied missrably because of an eye.

I really want a carrear in Commerical avaiation. I've gone for the two most obvious prefered options but it wasn't to be has anyone got any good surgestions for an alternative?

I have been looking at enginering but i don't know where to start, please help!:confused:

dude,

get lasik.

don't tell them.

good luck.:ok:

edited to keep the baying mob at ease! oh me and my wasted bandwith..... oh wait i'm just wasting more bandwith apologising for wasting bandwith......

Hate to say it, but improving my spelling would come high on my list if I were you......

Heavy- copying a whole post that is just above yours is an unnecessary waste of bandwidth as well as wasting your readers time.

I think your advice is distinctly dodgy. Doctors closely examine your eyes and look into them. I would have thought laser surgery would be evident.

rainboe,

thanks for you condescending tone and pompus advice.

as for ur tosh about lasik and medicals.

given that our friend has at present NO chance of a job in atc or flying and that lasik is a safe and readily available procedure exactly what has he got to lose. in his place i would have taken the chance. since i scraped through my medical at cme by the skin of my teeth i know exactly how he feels.

i am also assuming that he would also take some more advice than my one liner. r u a doctor? an optician? i'm not but i'm guessing they may be worth asking!

i'm not sure, and i'm not going to check as i've got a class 1 thanks, i believe the faa allows pilots to fly after lasik procedures.

you sir, have annoyed me.:O (edited to show a modecum of respect for a retired gent.)

by the way 1000 post in a year! your retired sir, go on live a little!

Thanks
 

Thanks for the support, lasik is no good in my case, I've got Amblyopia in one eye, can't be fixed.

Yep, this growing habit I see in many forums (but thankfully not too often on PPRuNe yet) of copying the entire leading text of a thread in the follow-up comments is needless and indeed a total waste of bandwidth. So there thh, put that in your pipe and smoke it :=

Jame

If you have the skills and the diligence to learn, nothing can beat a top engineer. Have you thought of the military as an option, for aviation crew training? I don't know what the physical/medical requirements are, but you'd get some excellent training, I'm sure.

And as an engineer, you could earn a nice sum of money, and then blow it all on building your own aircraft in your spare time, which you could fly for recreational purposes... Burt Rutan and the Scaled Composites folks are looking for skilled workers, but they do say you have to be a US Citizen....Do a google search for their website (I'm assuming I can't post it on here, but its very easy to find).

Good luck, and don't give up. You'll find the right job in the aviation world :ok:

Jame,
Sorry to hear about your medical woes and disappointing news regarding your ATPL and ATC medicals. One of the beauties of the aerospace industry is that it is so vast that when one avenue closes to you there are still a multitude of others to choose from if you are still keen.
Air Traffic Control and Pilotting are both very different careers although granted they are both within the sphere of "commercial aviation." What exactly is it you are looking for from your future job? You'll need to think over exactly what you want to get out of the job before you can narrow it down. Is it most important for you to get your feet off the ground in a flying role? If so you might want to consider training to be a flight attendant. Granted the pay and kudos aren't the same as flightdeck crew but you are still working for an airline in a role which requires you flying around the world. Alternatively you might want to consider (as suggested by fernytickles) non-pilot military aircrew. I don't know exactly the medical requirements for aircrew such as loadmasters etc. but they might not be so strict as for pilots.
If getting airborne isn't the be-all-end-all then again the question becomes 'do you want to be actively involved around real aircraft from day to day?' ATC could have you sitting in somewhere like Swanwick where you never see an aircraft from one day to the next hence the reason for that question. If you do want to be involved on the real thing then in engineering a line maintenance job is the way to go or failing that some kind of ground operations job at the airport but bear in mind too that there are plenty of jobs in engineering (mostly on the uni graduate side) where you are working for aerospace manufacturing companies about as far from the real aircraft as you can get.
As i said the possibilities are potentially endless. But in answer to your direct query if you think you might be interested in line maintenance engineering look on this forum or airmech.co.uk for threads about getting started and the various licencing and training routes. There are quite a few so if you do a few searches you'll find them ok.
If you are still unsure about what other jobs and possible career paths are open to you you might also want to check out aviationjobsearch.com to give you some idea of what kind of jobs are on offer within aviation.
Best of luck! :ok:

ASFKAP, let's wait til you post something personal and of real concern, and we'll find a gruesome way to make fun of you. What an inconsiderate wipe of the derriere you are!

As for Jame, sorry about your condition. I see little chance in your case unfortunately. I myself was having a problem (with colours) when I first started flying, which killed my career expectations in commercial aviation. Luckily, I did find a doctor that was inclined to relativize the color deficiency (I'm not color blind, just "challenged"), and did some additional tests that satisfied him. That was before JAR hit Switzerland, nowadays, I couldn't pass those tests anymore, but for flying IFR private I only need a class 2 medical, and it's good enough for that.

Sorry I don't have better news, but it's best to face up to it and carry on with live as soon as possible. There are so many other exciting jobs out there! Why don't you look into becoming a dispatcher? You'll make the flightplans, coordinate all sorts of issues, you learn as much about flying and weather as the pilots do! They're just the ones that end up pushing the buttons and get the jetlag... for some reason they get all the credit, too... :)

Aviation careers you may not have thought about enough...

- Licenced (i.e. maintenance) engineer, many starting points, just search this forum for many threads about it.

- Chartered (research / design / management) engineer, similarly - but the main starting point is usually a degree in aeronautical engineering.

- Aviation researcher, generally could be achieved by anybody with a technical degree (physics, aeronautics, meteorology, biology, medicine...) and a lot of drive and ambition.

- Dispatcher or similar trades, many threads in the "Flight Ops, Crewing and Disatchers" forum.

- Become a steward / stewardess

- Look at entering the microlight industry, many fascinating jobs (most of which seem to involve being a microlight flying instructor), the medical and eyesight standards are rather more relaxed than for transport flying (presumably since you can only kill one or two people at a time rather than 300).

- Do a degree in meteorology and become an aviation meteorologist.


None of them are easy, all are rewarding, most don't mind too much about your eyesight, some of them even pay quite well too.

G

I've always thought working for the AAIB would be interesting. I have absolutely no idea how you'd go about it though!

First be either an extremely well qualified engineer, or very very experienced airline pilot...

G

There must be many skills required in different parts of the team, Genghis? Human factor experts, sound technicians, meterologists?

True, although in very small numbers - AAIB seems to get most of it's expertise from outside as and when required. It has accident-data recorder specialists, technicians and admin support, but those are in small numbers and (bar presumably the administrators) are similarly very experienced people from elsewhere in the industry.

I qualify this by saying that I've never worked for AAIB. I have however helped them out on some half dozen occasions, so think that I have a reasonable feel for what happens there.

G

Thanks for all your ideas
 

What really interests you and at what are you best skilled? Academics/interest in engineering and how things operate/scientific/want to work in team/want to lead team/want to run company?

Ask yourself that rather than seeking any and every job in aviation, and you will be far more fulfilled and satisfied than potentially persuing a career that you find exceptionally dull and boring in reality - even though it is in the aviation field.

Let us know, and then we can help...