CAA decision making time?
 

Anyone any idea how long I'm likely to have to wait for the CAA to issue my first class 1 (or not!)?

Had an assessment and blood test at Aviation House three weeks ago following a referral from the AME.

Since then I've heard absolutely nothing!

This process is driving me crazy, I started it in November and the whole thing is proceeding at snails pace!

AME's are being advised not to expect any response from the CAA Medical Department for a minimum of 4 weeks. That's just to "open to the post".

It's a bit of a mess. Sadly between Covid-19, Brexit and their new online medical portal, the CAA is in a bit of a sorry state. The former 2 ready-made excuses for their poor performance will no doubt be deployed to good effect for many months/years to come.
The Campaign Against Aviation is again living up to its nom de guerre.

Thanks mate.

It's pretty incredible really, I guess they can get away with it at the moment as there's no desperate need to get pilots through the process.

Today, over a month after my assessment at Aviation House, someone has finally got round to scanning some of my paperwork and uploading it to CELLMA...

Obviously still no news on whether my blood tests came back ok, or whether they're actually going to grant my certificate!

How on EARTH can it take that long?!

Should I assume that my blood tests are all clear? Would they have contacted me sooner if there was a problem, or would that just be too sensible?

I went for my intital at the start of January, barely any progress has been made in that time. The progress that has been made could have been done in under an hour if they actually bothered to sit down and sort it, but apparently it has taken 6 months to get this far. The AME is impossible to contact, as is the CAA. My future hangs in the balance and they don't seem to have any urgency whatsoever to get it sorted, nor can they be bothered to even send me a simple email to update me. The whole process is a joke, I hope the renewals aren't this painful because it would seriously put me off aviation as a career

Which AME did you use mate? The one I used in Birmingham were really slow as well.

It was TWO MONTHS between them submitting the case files and the CAA accepting them and getting them on to the system.

There is absolutely no legitimate reason I can think of for it being this slow.

They've just chased me for payment for the assessment I had at LGW 6 weeks ago, I've replied and told them I'm withholding payment as I've yet to see any evidence that they're actually doing anything!

Birmingham as well, it took nearly 6 months for my case to be uploaded and referred to the CAA. I might add that my case literally only consisted of the results from the initial examination, my GP summary notes and a specialist report which was a side of A4. That's literally all it was and it has taken this long, what an absolute joke. I have tried to contact the AME and CAA so many times to try and chase it up, but my calls and emails go unanswered, i'm literally so sick of it now because I can't continue with my training until I get the class 1 medical, and I might miss out on the UCAS deadline to start a degree and pursue an alternative career path if the medical is denied.

I won't go into specifics for obvious reasons, but lets just say my medical issue isn't 'complex' at all and is from years ago. It should be a simple box ticking exercise, and one of the top specialists in the country for the condition has literally wrote a report saying that I am good to go, so I genuinely have no idea what could possibly be taking them so long to do anything with it.

“It was TWO MONTHS between them submitting the case files and the CAA accepting them and getting them on to the system.”


I'm horrified to hear that, as my files were only referred to the CAA medical assessor a couple of weeks ago, I don't think the CAA have even accepted or acknowledged the case yet. That's after already messing around for 6 months with the AME to get this far. It's genuinely shocking how bad it is, I have a feeling this will drag on for many months more. It's honestly a disgrace that they get away with charging <£600 for this 'service' and deliver such rubbish, but the CAA and AMEs have us by the balls so it's very difficult to complain, even when they're taking the mick

I've filed a FOI request to find out what the reason is for the unacceptable delays. Asked them how many people are off sick/furloughed, how many emails they get each day that require a response, the average time between assessment and decision etc.

Next step here is to file a formal complaint, I've already had to file one (due to their refusal to book a consultation manually via phone when their CELLMA system was down for months), that at least gave them a kick up the arse.

Good idea mate, best of luck with it. Please keep me posted, whether here or PM me. Someone needs to be accountable for this mess because they are playing with our futures. I'm a very patient person, but so little progress after 6 months is frankly taking the piss and I would like an explanation for why it is taking so long

Gentlemen may I suggest an objective letter of concern to your MP? I wrote to mine and I received a response suggesting it had been pursued with the relevant minister.

Not a bad idea, but it very much depends who your MP is I guess... Many couldn't care less about anything to do with aviation!

Definitely worth a shot though! I'll copy mine in when I make a formal complaint, and see what they say

Just checked CELLMA and apparently my notes from the assessment on 4 June have finally been uploaded and allocated to an assessor. It says they have a deadline of 18 August to deal with it!

Seriously?! What the hell is wrong with the CAA? What are they actually DOING to be so slow?