Initial Class 1 medical
17 Apr 2026Today marked the first concrete step towards the ATPLs and a career in commercial aviation - going to have the Class 1 medical assessment, which is a requirement to be able to fly commercially in any form, so an absolute essential, and very sensible first thing to go and get before spending any serious money on flight training. It’s fairly serious money in it’s self to get the initial class 1 done, at around £1000 all in, depending on the provider you go with, and there are limited options there, with most requiring a trip to London.
I was planning to head to London for Pilot Careers Live again anyway tomorrow, so as I already had a hotel booked for that, it seemed like a sensible option to get it done at the same time. I opted to go with HeathrowMedical for mine, for two reasons, firstly they were the cheapest (by £25…) and secondly, had good reviews.
You pay in full online before attending, (£957), and then have to log into the CAA portal to complete the MED160 form at least 10 days before the appointment. This form, and the CAA portal, are an absolute nightmare to use and fill out, the design looks like something from the 90’s and the associated guidance makes very little sense - however HeathrowMedical do provide some guidance too, and it’s checked/modified by the AME (areomedical examiner) on the day too before they send it off, so if you don’t get it spot on, it can be corrected.
They have 8 dedicated parking spaces, and today it seemed like it was incredibly busy (but that might be normal!), and despite arriving nearly 45 minutes early, all of them were taken - there were other spaces in the car park too, so I parked in one of those, and was told that was fine. You put your registration into a system once you’re inside, so presumably it’s just based on ANPR cameras at the entrance, rather than specific spaces. I’m writing about the parking here because there was very little information about it online, other than that they had some on a first come first served bases (there’s also very little google streetview coverage of Bath road for some reason) so, going in I wasn’t sure what it’d be like until I was there.
Once inside, before I’d even sat down they asked for my passport and all of the various documents, & medical records that had been requested. I was then given a couple of consent forms and questionnaires to sign, and a cotton swab which you have to place in you mouth and leave it there for around ten minutes (this is a drug test). Once that was all done, I was shown to the bathroom to provide a urine sample, then returned to the reception area.
After a bit of waiting, but not too long, I was taken upstairs, given a hearing test (sat in a soundproof booth, with a clicker, pressing it whenever I heard a tone), breathalyser, bloods were taken (via a pinprick), an EGC, and finally a spirometry test (lung function), before being returned to the reception area again for some more waiting.
There were people coming and going constantly, I’d read online before that there would be long periods of waiting, so had brought a book with me, but there was so much constantly going on, as well as a TV with the volume up fairly loud, and you never know when you’d be called on for the next bach of tests, so I don’t think I’d have been able to focus on it if i tried. I ended up mostly just watching the daytime TV and occasionally chatting to the other people going through the same ordeal.
After a slightly longer wait, I then met the AME who’d be doing my examination, we went upstairs again, and it started off with a general chat about how I was feeling and life in general (this was actually the mental health assessment part) followed by what my plans were (in terms of flying) - turned out we had some things in common as he’d done his medical training in Exeter! After that I was taken through the various results of all the tests that had been done so far. There were no issues at all for me, so this was pretty brief, essentially a skim over, with comments like “so that’s good”, “that’s all normal” etc.
Next up was a physical exam, so had to strip down to my underwear, and was then prodded and poked a bit, and had my lungs and heart listened to, again, all normal. Then it was time for blood pressure, pretty standard with an inflatable band - mine was initially high - it was quite warm in the centre and and there’s also a bit pf anxiety with this kind of thing given it has potential to prevent you being able to fly, so he put it down to that, put on some jazz music and told me to close my eyes, and clear my mind - I’m not sure how long I laid there like that, but it felt like forever, eventually though he repeated the test, and this time, like everything else, all completely normal. (He joked he might have to write a paper on jazz reducing blood pressure as it always worked!)
Next up after getting dressed, was a bit of exercise, (testing range of motion/mobility) I had to swing my arms a bit and do a few different moves, including things like a squat, then stand on a spot with my eyes shut (testing balance), then walking up and down (to check gait) - again all fine & easy stuff.
And that was it! All tests passed with no problem.
If you’ve ready my story, you’ll know I had an operation last year, so we then talked about that and what it meant - surprisingly to me (as that’s essentially now all in the past as far as i’m concerned!) this was the only stumbling block. As I’m still in the period where I only have a couple more followups scheduled with the hospital, just to verify everything is still ok, it wasn’t possible to issue the Class 1 today, as it’ll have to go to the CAA for them to decide, along with a letter from my consultant, stating that he thinks there’s no risk of recurrence, or further problems. The AME said that this was highly unlikely to be a problem at all, and he would contest it himself if there were any issues, as with a totally clean bill of health otherwise, he was happy to issue me a certificate, but as it’s in my history, the required boxes have to be ticked, and processes followed.
You may be wondering, no eyesight check? I was surprised not to have had this test before seeing the AME too, however, I suspect this is because of two reasons; firstly I’d provided my up to date sight prescription, and secondly I already have a historic Class 2 medical, and the initial examination for that already covers the show stopping things for a class 1, like colour blindness. So I suspect based on those things, it was expected the eye exam wouldn’t reveal anything new. Some of the others who were there, did go and have the eye exam before seeing the AME.
I did get taken for a very thorough eye test after seeing him though. It was essentially all the same kinds of tests you’d get in specsavers, if you’re a contact lens wearer, and also pay for their additional extras (like getting a 3D scan of your eye), but also a few additional ones as well, such as a more comprehensive peripheral vision test, which is done in a machine, where one eye is covered in turn, and then white lights appear at random, both in position and timing, and you have a clicker which you press whenever you see one, while staring straight ahead. The worst of these tests was the one for eye pressure, which is puffs of air being blown into your eye, but I had no concerns about the results of any of these tests, as I have regular eye examinations anyway & so knew my eyes were in good shape.
Finally I was returned to reception again, while a few bits of paperwork were completed before I was let go. All in all it was about 4-5 hours, but it went fairly quickly, the worst part was that lunch time was in the middle of it, and you’re not allowed to eat, so was pretty hungry for about half of it!
Although I’ve had to come away without the certificate actually in my hand, I expect it’ll likely come through in the next month or two, all being well (though I have experienced how slow the CAA ca be with these kind of admin things before!). It’s a huge relief to know now that i’ve been very thoroughly checked to be in good health, and that there’s now no barriers to getting my licence, other than me!