Time for a medical

The 7th April 2018 is an important date, especially if you are a UK NPPL holder who wants to be able to fly Cessna and Piper aeroplanes (amongst others) after this date.

Allow me to explain.

Up until this date UK pilots who hold a national license (UK NPPL) have been able to fly any aircraft they like so long as it is less than 2000KG, only has 4 seats and a few other criteria.

From 8th April this changes and UK NPPL holders will only be able to fly amateur built aircraft and a few other types that meet the above criteria.  This excludes the ubiquitous American “spam cans” that most of the general population are familiar with when they visit a UK airfield.  The likes of Cessna 152/172 or Piper PA28 (see photo above) will be off limits after this date to anyone who does not have a European license.

In order to get said license, the snappily named EASA LAPL or Light Aircraft Pilots license you need to do a 32 hour course along with 9 ground exams.

££££££££

Ouch – expensive, and not really doable in the next 2 and a bit months.

You also need an LAPL medical or Class 2 medical, which means a fair bit more than a visit to your local GP to get a declaration of fitness signed as per the UK NPPL requirements when I started my flying training 4 years ago.

££££££££

Fortunately if you are currently a UK NPPL holder with a microlight rating (ahem I am 🙂 ) then you can undertake a different type of course.  You can do the differences training needed to add the Simple Single Engined Aircraft rating to your NPPL and then send off some paperwork (and more cash £££££) to the CAA who will, in return, send you a nice brand shiny new EASA LAPL license.

This additional rating mandates only around 5 hours of flight training (obviously if you need more to be competent then you will need more..), 2 written exams (I don’t mind these) and 2 flight exams (I hate practical tests).

And then of course you still need the medical.

Hello… suddenly this is looking far more interesting, cost effective and achievable.

This route, as far as I know, closes in April – and its something I’ve been thinking of for a couple of years but kept putting it off for many reasons.

1 – Its going to cost me a couple of thousand pounds I guess

2 – Will I actually use it?

3 – I need a medical and I worry about medicals

4 – It will be another license and rating to keep current

But, in return for the effort of doing this I will gain

1 – Room for 2 extra passengers

2 – The ability to fly a greater range of aircraft

3 – A tailwheel endorsement (I’m learning on a Citabria – like a Spitfire, honest)

4 – The possibility of adding a night rating in the future

5 – The ability to hire aircraft in Europe

6 – A route to an abridged full PPL course at some point in the future should I want it

So the rewards are worth it – as there are more of them.

At least in my view.

So without further ado – I got in touch with a flying school based at Gloucester Airport who specialise in converting microlight pilots to group A aircraft.  I had spoken with the instructor a couple of years ago about doing the course and he is still going strong, having converted around 30 pilots last year.

It is because of this that I have selected this particular school because the way I see it: they know what it takes to convert a microlight pilot to group A plus I will be flying from a different airfield than I am used to, in different airpsace so I will get some more experience there.  Finally the big Brucy bonus is that I’m doing it on a tailwheel aircraft, which means I’m one step closer to being a Spitfire pilot…

Sack it, a Citabria is basically a Spitfire (honest), so I will basically be a Spitfire pilot when I’ve completed the course… or something like that.

A Citabria (kind of) like the one I am going to be learning in…. honest!

So course booked – back to the medical.  Now there is no requirement to get a medical before you do the SSEA upgrade as its still a National license so you can do that on your existing self certification. But obviously if you want to convert it to the EASA LAPL you need to get either an LAPL medical or Class 2 medical.

The LAPL medical can be done by your GP, but, they will likely not be familiar with the process and if you want to go for a full PPL at some point you might as well get a class 2 medical straight away.

This was a little daunting for me as I do worry about medicals, having been rejected by the RAF for having the word ‘Asthma’ on my medical history years ago.  I read all the guidance on the CAA website and thought it sounded like I should be ok, but I still worried.  Mainly because I guess medicals are completely out of my control.  I can’t really influence whether I pass or not, and this bothers me.  But if I wanted the LAPL I would need to do one, so I decided to push past the fear of failing the medical.

I also mentioned my worries to my mate (another pilot) and he cheerfully reassured me with the following words.

“Don’t worry mate. The only way you can fail a class 2 medical is if you are dead.”

Gee, no pressure now. Better hope I don’t prove him wrong then.

Anyway I arrived for my medical appointment on Saturday with the requisite full bladder.  I’d made sure I had had plenty to drink so I could provide a decent sample on request.  However this was now starting to play on my mind a bit as I was early.. “Ah well – hold it in Dan”

I walked over to the tower at Barton and introduced myself to the AME and after an initial chat about my medical history we started the actual medical.

Top tip – if you have a medical history (especially with things like Asthma) then its well worth getting your entire set of GP notes from your doctors.  They will do this under a data protection act request and will charge no more than £50.  It will save time (and potentially costly reports) if you do this in advance as your AME will likely need this information.

Back to the medical – and something was bothering me.

And it wouldn’t go away.

It was at this point I blurted out:

“Can we do the urine sample bit first please as I’m bursting..” – that broke the ice a bit..

Anyway after I had done the business the aeromedical examiner checked me over, including an ECG on my heart and as a consequence I now have several patches of chest that have no hair.  Mental note, next time I’m due an ECG, better get my chest shaved first! (another top tip for all you hairy people out there.)

I also actually have a bit of chest infection at the moment but he seemed to not mind this, and it didn’t seem to affect anything.

I met the vision standard with and without my glasses.

My ECG was all normal (even the computer said so!)

Everything else was fine.

Wow.

I was genuinely surprised.

So next up I need to see a respiratory specialist, this is something the CAA mandate for anyone with a history of asthma but I’m really not too worried about that. Over the last 10 years I have run several marathons, half marathons and fast 5/10km races so without sounding too bullish, I’m sure I can handle whatever tests the CAA need me to do to satisfy them that my lungs are fine.

I’ll keep you posted over the next month to 6 weeks on my quest to gain my Spitfire license, I mean, erm, LAPL.

Now I’m going back to hit the books again so I’m ready for those ground exams.

Get praying to the weather Gods people!