Medical

After passing the assessment day at CTC, the next step was to achieve my Class 1 Medical at Gatwick. On the 22nd of August I headed up to the CAA at Gatwick for my 8:30am exams.

I was called to start my first medical exam after about a 15 minute wait, and this was to measure my height and weight. Apparently I'm an inch shorter than I though. Great. That's the day started out on a high note (or not rather....)

Following that, I had my eyes checked briefly, including an examination of my peripheral vision. This was done by placing your head into this small white box with an eye patch on one eye and clicking a button whenever you spotted a white light around the sides of box. After this was completes (approx 5 mins) you switched to the other eye and repeated.

Next was the blood test, the bit I'd been dreading as I'm petrified of needles. Happily though, after the nurse had eroded half of my finger to the bone with an alcohol wipe, the blood was taken by a small pin prick and I didn't feel a thing.Probably because she had sanded away any nerve ending in my finger, but none-the-less, it was done. Well, for a year at least.

Now, for the next examination, we had the joyous task of peeing into a paper cup. As you can imagine it's quite straight forward, you take a small cup from a two-way cupboard in a mens room cubicle, do your business, and then place it back behind the cupboard door (I imagine Narnia's reputation would have been tarnished slightly had it have been crowded with little cups of pee like this one)

Next I had my hearing test (pretty standard), they basically get you to sit in a small box with some uncomfortable rubber headphones on. The aim is to click a button every time you hear a noise. It was very simple but pay close attention, you can still hear doors being slammed from the outside so you may miss one or two if you're not careful.

Next was the ECG, or Electrocardiogram. This is basically a long word to let them apply sticky patches and wires on your chest, legs and arms to see if your heart's ok. And luckily, mine was!

Off we go to the next exam, which was the Spirometry exam, which was again, very simple. You are asked to blow as hard and for as long as you can into what looks like a 1940s hair dryer. After which you throw away your mouth piece and go back to the waiting are to sit down. Again.

Following my wait, I was summoned into the Dr's office. He performed very simple examinations such as taking my blood pressure, listening to my heart as well as checking my abdomen and my reflexes. It was very simple and straight-forward and he gave me a quick debrief on how the day's examinations had gone.

So currently, everything's going well, and my next exam is with the optician. I sat down in his office he performed the typical eye-test stuff, like reading from a certain line of letters at a set distance away and making sure I wasn't colourblind.
Now, as far as I can remember, that's it! I waited in the waiting room for another 30 minutes and then the Dr came out to the waiting room, shook my hand, asked me to sign the certificate and that was it. I was done, with my medical ready to go.

If I've forgotten a test, let me know, I'd be happy to run through any of the day in more detail!