Types of test to determine heart and overall physical condition include:
- Resting EKG.
- Exercise EKG (stress test), which also determines physical condition.
- VitalAung capacity/spirometry/pulmonary function. oEEG.
This is the recording made by an electrocardiograph. The machine is used to diagnose disorders of the heart. It detects and then records the electric impulses that develop in the heart and spread through its muscles with each beat. These impulses make records of specific size and shape. If there is an abnormality, there will be a change in this pattern. Among the things that can be detected by an electrocardiogram are a diseased heart muscle, thinning of the walls of the heart chamber, and an irregular heartbeat.
EEG (Electroencephalogram)
An EEG measures and records the voltages, or electrical impulses, generated by the nerve cells in the brain. The test requires that sensors be attached to one's scalp. The recordings are called electroencephalograms or tracings. This test is used to locate brain tumors and in tracranial lesions and to distinguish between diffuse and focal brain lesions in epilepsy.
How's the Eyesight?
Early detection of any vision problem is especially important for a future career pilot. If you have never done so, it is imperative that you subject yourself to the most demanding visual acuity tests possible, and you should do so early in your job search. (Military flight surgeons may not be able to provide such tests.)
The eye exam may include:
- Acuity (near and far), especially for older pilots.
- Color-blindness.
- Glaucoma.
- Correction of acuity. If you wear glasses, you must know your uncorrected vision and must have your glasses with you.
- Contact lenses OK if not "extended wear" or tinted.
- Myopia (nearsighted); farsightedness.
- Ortho-K (not easily detectable) and Radial-K.
Several different areas are checked during a vision test. One is visual acuity or sharpness of vision. Many airlines use a machine instead of an eye chart. If you can read letters of a size that is "normal" for a person standing 20 feet away, your vision is expressed as 20/20. If you must be within 20 feet to read letters that a normal eye can see at 40 feet, you have 20/40 vision; and so on. You also may be checked for astigmatism, color-blindness, and glaucoma. Of the major airlines, the only one requiring 20/20 vision uncorrected is Delta Air Lines. Northwest requires 20/40 uncorrected; Continental, 20/ 200; and other major carriers, 20/70. Standards may change in the future, but for now, you may have to accept fact that if your vision is less than 20/40 uncorrected, you cannot qualify for Northwest or Delta. You should concentrate on other companies.
There are methods available to improve vision. Among those are Orthokeratology (Ortho-K), Radial Keratotomy (a surgical procedure) and visual therapy.
Ortho-K involves the use of corrective contact lenses to change the shape of the cornea and may leave the pilot with temporary 20/20 vision even after the lenses are removed.
Radial Keratotomy is an operation on the cornea to change its shape in order to achieve a certain visual acuity.
Neither Ortho-K nor Radial Keratotomy is accepted by the airlines.
Visual therapy is a series of exercises that strengthen the muscles that regulate the cornea, thus improving visual acuity. It has the advantage of not subjecting the eye to any foreign objects or trauma.
Height and Weight (Overweight vs. Overfat)
There can be few things more disappointing than to have passed every other phase of an interview and be rejected because of a couple of pounds too many. The chart below is representative of the height and weight standards many companies use. Many airlines will make no exceptions for applicants who exceed their weight standards.
You should make sure that your weight is in proportion to your height (this one element can and will eliminate a pilot candidate). Published height and weight scales are a significant parameter for all top companies, but are clinically evaluated.
If a pilot is grossly overweight, he or she has no chance.
Many companies have minimum and maximum height requirements. The trend is toward removing these restrictions. Pilots who do not meet the minimum height requirements for a certain company should go ahead and get an application on file since the requirements may change. Naturally, however, the bulk of such a pilot's time and money should be put into pursuit of companies that have a more lenient height requirement.
