If you've been following along, you'll know I've had plenty to say lately about pilot medicals. Health, honesty, the lot. You'll also know I quietly took the soft option and dropped to a Pilot Medical Declaration. Well. Turns out preaching is the easy bit and practising is the hard bit. So I stopped talking about it, bit the bullet, and booked a Class 2.
First hurdle was finding someone to do it. Dr Des O Flynn, who felt like part of the furniture at Elstree for years, has retired. So I was starting from scratch.
Enter the doorstep discovery. A quick Google turned up FlyingMedicine.uk, slap in the middle of Watford. Isn't it bizarre how you can drive past a place almost daily and never clock it exists until the day you need it?
So I booked and paid up, and let's be honest, medicals aren't cheap. Then came the mountain of paperwork, a wrestle with CELLMA, the CAA medical portal, and a thousand tick boxes I hoped I'd filled in, and finally the walk up to the door.
And what a door. Slick, clean, welcoming. A lovely receptionist sorted out the last of my paperwork, then pointed me at the loo for the obligatory wee in a bottle. The glamour of being a pilot. After that, a sit on one of the gorgeous Chesterfields that seem to be a bit of a theme in there, and an episode of Friends on the telly while I waited. As you do.
Then the doctor. Chatty, interesting, clearly experienced and does this day in, day out. Very professional. By the time I had my shirt off and the sticky leads on for the machine that goes beep, I'd properly relaxed. ECG, fine. Blood pressure, fine. Hearing, fine. Poked, prodded and checked over. And the answer was what I had hoped. Yes. Fit for a Class 2.
Which means flying to France is back on. So is the IMC training I might actually restart. And for anyone who read Too Fat to Fly, the magic QRISK number that kicked all this off came in better than I expected.
This isn't really a review of ther AME. But if you're twisting my arm, I would give them comfortably north of eight out of ten. Quick to book, professional, easy process, and it put my mind properly at rest. We even had a good natter about the quirks of PMDs. One happy pilot.
