Medical Assessment - Class 1

As you may already be aware, you will need a medical certificate to commence commercial flight training.

Class 1 Certificate - Required for commercial flying, valid for 12 months (under 60 yrs, multi crew ops).

To start with you will be looking at getting an initial medical certificate which you will then revalidate (if within expiry date) or renew (if you've let it lapse). The appointment will be on average a couple of hours and approximately £600 for the initial assessment although please be aware you may be charged extra if the aeromedical decides to look into anything further. You will also need to sign up on the CAA portal prior to your medical assessment. This takes a little while to set up so I'd recommend doing this 10 days prior to your appointment.

They will look into your medical history and conduct a general physical exam. Additionally, they will test your eye health, hearing, heart health (ECG), blood test (finger prick), urine, drug test etc.

My Story:

I, unfortunately, had quite a few stressful hurdles getting my Class 1 and at the time I wished I had known others that had been through the same so I shall share my story but please note this is my personal case and hopefully, you should breeze through it!

I spent about 4/5 hours at the aeromedical centre, quite a lot of this time was spent in the waiting area between assessments. First I had my eye tests which seemed I was in there for a while, just over an hour from what I recall but It was perfectly straightforward as you're guided through by the professional. Pretty similar to your average eye check just with some added extras.

Then I did a urine and drug test. They'll take a urine sample...so make sure you drink lots! For the drug test, I had a stick that you place in your mouth which came out with a reading.

Next was the medical fitness assessment which looked into the remaining above-mentioned general health tests. Some examples of tests are your BMI, breathing test looking at your lungs and checking your reflexes etc. Then it was the ECG test, they will pop some wires over your chest and track your heart rate, looking for any abnormalities. Having now spoken to many students it is not uncommon to fail. I was one of them! So please don't be too alarmed at this stage :)

For me, they mentioned I had a low heart rate, a prolonged QT as was noted. This meant the aeromedical centre was unable to issue my certificate until further investigations had been conducted and signed off as fit. At the time I felt overwhelmingly worried and unsure of what was to follow, having not known/spoken to anyone who had been through this. I then had to book further tests with an aviation cardiologist, this sadly set me back approximately £1,100 on top of the £600 paid for the initial assessment! I then met with the private cardiologist who was extremely helpful, set my mind at ease and as recommended I had an exercise ECG, echocardiogram and 24hr ECG. Thankfully these came back okay and in good health although for now, I do have an OML (Operational Multi-crew Licence) until my next revalidation/renewal which should hopefully wipe this off! This is a rounded off talk of my experience, there were other issues such as the aeromedical centre I found was sadly not that helpful but I won't bore you with that! It was a very stressful time as I was due to start training and leave my current job, however, I made it through and remained positive throughout.

My main aim of this post is to help others who encounter issues with their medical assessment, to know that many others have been through the same, something that isn't really posted about. My advice would be to apply for your medical at least a few months before starting a commercial flight school as a precaution if you can. Hopefully, you won't even need any of this information and will fly through it all!

If there's anyone reading this post that's had issues with their medical, please let us know in the comments! It all helps our future pilots ☺️

Please feel free, as always, to ask away any questions!

Ashleigh x