class 1 - finally booked it!
 

Hi all, I've finally booked my class 1 medical and can now start to worry about it :}

First question - on the caa website there are prices for a JAA class 1 medical (£435) and a UK class 1 (£246). I didn't specify which I wanted and was charged £302. Have I booked the right thing?! I wouldn't know if it's a JAA or a UK one I want.... :confused:

Second question - I arrive at Gatwick at 10am for a 12.45 appointment so I have time to kill. Is it feasible to walk from the south terminal to aviation house?

Third question - should I wear trainers in case they make me run round the car park?!

Thanks for any answers :O

The only thing I know for certain out of your questions is that they won't make you run round the car park.

I'm pretty sure you've booked the right medical.It sounds like the website is out-of-date. The cost used to be around £400; then they stopped the EEG, so £300 would be about right.

It's £302. They don't do EEG and chest x-rays any more.

Not a particularly pleasant walk really :bored: .. I wouldnt do it. Plus the bus is free to Aviation House..

:bored:

Always advisable to do the eye test first as this seems to be the biggest failure factor, followed by the audiometry.

There is only a 1 in 200 chance that you have a colour vision problem so don't lose any sleep there and it's a good idea to give your ears a good degunging beforehand. I've always thought I had very clean fins but I used drops for three days prior to the test and was amazed at the difference it made.

If you've got time to kill, pop up the canteen for lunch (from 12.00) - very good and very reasonable - although you can get a brew or soft drinks all morning.

As for the run around the car park, that's been replaced as of today with a 12 mile forced march carrying full battle order kit and two jerrycans filled with cement.:eek:

HTH
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Thanks for the replies guys - sounds like I've booked the right thing!

I'm sure I read in another thread somewhere that occasionally they make you run round the car park before doing the peak flow tests.... :}

Sounds like I should get the bus from the airport - I'll just have to kill the time shopping for new sunglasses.

I got my optician to check my eyesight against the class 1 standards. He checked the colour vision and muscle imbalance and whatnot as well so hopefully I should be fine. I wear soft contact lenses - the caa website says hard ones shouldn't be worn on the day of the medical, can I wear soft ones? I do have glasses but I rarely wear them out in public!

I clean my ears everyday with a cotton bud but I guess this doesn't get right inside... can you buy drops over the counter/ off the shelf? I sometimes wonder if my hearing is all it should be :hmm:

Ahh, female selective deafness........a common condition ;)

Yes, over the counter ear deforestation stuff worked fine for me.

There is definitely no beasting around the car park. There is a treadmill in the AMC that they can connect you up to, to monitor your ticker if they want to check it under stress but have no fear, you should not be expected to run anywhere.

Get the No. 10, 100 or 200 (as I recall) and ask for City Place - as stated above, it's free. Get off at City Place, walk past the Beehive and the CAA building is just around the corner.

HTH

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I seem to remember that the information that you get sent suggests that you should not wear contact lenses for 72 hours prior to the medical. It might be worth giving them a call and checking the position with contact lenses. I believe that you need to get the CAA to sign you off in terms of wearing contact lenses and flying as well.

Hi FemaleWannabe, the £302 fee is right. I did mine in January and it costed me the same price... If you arrive at 10am you're gonna have a lot of time to kill!!! So, if you can try to go there later... let's say 1130-1200. Don't walk from the terminal, there's a free bus shuttle!! I think the bus service is the #100 and it runs every 15-20 min.

Sorry to say this, but it's very funny... ahahahah :} :confused: :\

Don't worry FemaleWannabe, the visit lasts around 2 hours and half, and if you don't have any medical problem, you should get the class one without any problem. Let us know!!!! :ok:

wf

Believe me, I'd go later if I could, but I have to travel from edinburgh and the only flight which suits gets in at 10am. The one after that is at 13.30 which is useless. I'm told gatwick has good shops though :)

Yes, you want the "Shopping Village" which is above the South Terminal, if I remember rightly. If you're even a little bit into shopping, it's a great place to spend a couple of hours. :ok:

Thanks Whirlybird... I'm assuming you don't need to go back through security to get there?

Got the forms through today - quick or what! Seems like I have a lot of ticking boxes to do :} lots of difficult questions.

Windforce, when I had mine done in February it ran from 0830 to approximately 1300! I've never spent so long in a dressing gown surrounded by fellow pilots in similar attire... :ok:

Cheers, Jack.

did you? so, i was quite lucky... two hours and 30 min. with that beautiful white dressing... ahahahah... :eek:

Maybe it depends on how many people there are for the visit... when I did mine there were 'only' 5 guys (+ me)... and it was the 1245 visit...

wf

I went down only a few weeks ago and I didn't have to wear a dressing gown at all. Not sure whether it is different depending on what staff are on that day or whether they have changed the policy. Perhaps all the dressing gowns were in the wash ;) It took me about 3 hours to get through the whole process and about 3 days for the Class One certificate to come through the post.

No longer required to wear the sexy dressing gowns.

Ok so you just keep your own clothes on and remove the necessary when instructed?

It isn't quite that drastic - underwear at all times. From your username, I am naturally assuming that you are female so if it is a male Dr that you have to see then you will get a nurse to accompany you as well. It actually was a lot less traumatic than I was expecting. All of the staff were incredibly friendly.

Sagey is right! the staff is very nice and tries to make everything easy!

Sounds incredibly expensive to me or are there 'extras' for initial issue ?

My Doc just charged me (well the Company actually) just over two hundred quid for a standard six-monthly MOT including ECG and Audio.

That must be new then. When I was there back in OCT/NOV, one guy DID have to run around the car park - and he was the only one wearing a full suit/shirt/tie/shoes. When my friend was there for his Class one, someone had to run round the car park also.

Not everyone has to do this however, it all depends on your heart rate. Some people can get their heart rate up just by doing the standard thing they get you to do (walking up and down 2 steps IIRC), others can't and its those that have to do the run round the car park.

If your pretty sure your heart rate will go up with just a few minutes of physical excersise then don't wear trainers, if you are not then take them with you just incase.

Yeah that sounds about right. Take them and your glasses with you (and ANY medication you take). They will test your glasses to make sure they are the correct strength and sign you off to wear them or contacts. I had just changed job roles prior to having mine, meaning I wasn't wearing my contacts as often, so they wouldn't sign me off to wear them at that stage, although I can go back in future if I wish to wear them.

Funny isn't it that if it's a male Dr testing a woman, a female nurse has to be present, yet when it's a guy being checked by a woman Dr, there is usually no male present.

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