Medical exam

[meatasaurusx]

I know that when they do the medical exam at the pepc, they want to make sure that you are healthy enough for the job. are there certain things that they are looking for that may cause you to not get hired, esp height/weight restrictions? do they keep want people to be on a similar standard as the military for the height/weight charts? thanks

 

[mjohn47]

They definitely don't stick to the military charts dude.

FAA Medical Certification / Medical Standards and FAA Forms

They want everything that falls under 1st class medical certs.

To give you an idea here, I'm 250lbs/5'10" and I'm still good to fly. As long as you're healthy (good BP, good pulse, no diabetes, or heart problems) you're good to go. It's not to say I want to stay at this unhealthy weight but while I"m working on shedding it I am still medically qualified.

 

[boondr]

The ATC physical has slightly different requirements, I know my uncle is 1st class AME and he isn't authorized to do ATC physicals. Only certain AME's are qualified.

But as to your question, no height, weight requirements are not like the military. Just make sure there aren't any health issues that come with any of the extremes.

 

[mjohn47]

thanks for the clarification boondr.

 

[meatasaurusx]

ok, this is a bit of a bizzare question, but do you think poppy seeds can negatively affect your drug test. I know that from mythbusters that poppy seeds can give a false positive drug test for opiates, but i would hope that they can distinguish between eating some poppy seeds (cause i love my portillos hot dogs on the poppy seed bun) and being addicted to opium!

 

[atcbrownie]

From my understanding you would have to eat a rediculous amount of poppy seeds to fail a piss test.

 

[Dale]

If I remember correctly, On the Myth Busters, one guy ate 3 poppyseed bagles, and the other forced down a whole pound of poppyseed cake.

Both then tested positive for opiates using a home test kit, just a matter of how much time elapsed befort testing postitive. Obviously the amount of time it took to get a clear test took much longer for the one who ate the cake.

FAA uses a 2 stage process, where the first stage is not much different than the home test the Myth Busters used. The second stage is a mass spectometry test, when someone indicates drugs on the first stage, and is much more accurate. I would guess that poppyseed rolls could kick a positive on the first stage of an FAA drug screening (dependant upon how many rolls were eaten), but do not know how it would react to the spectometry test that is the second stage of the FAA process.

My best advice is to not eat anything that might be questionable for a few days before your medical exam. Opiates dissipate from the system fairly quickly, and would then not be an issue.

 

[boondr]

Actually depending on the person eating a single poppy seed containing item can produce a false-positive. However the best way to avoid this all together is to simply avoid poppy seeds for at least a few days before your test. The opiate deratives that are tested for are found in both opiate drugs as well as poppy seeds, however they only stay in your system about 48 hours. Some testing facilities/agencies have raised the minimum detection amount to eliminate the possibility of a positive result coming from a poppy seed containing food item.

 

[boondr]

If I remember correctly, On the Myth Busters, one guy ate 3 poppyseed bagles, and the other forced down a whole pound of poppyseed cake.

Both then tested positive for opiates using a home test kit, just a matter of how much time elapsed befort testing postitive. Obviously the amount of time it took to get a clear test took much longer for the one who ate the cake.

FAA uses a 2 stage process, where the first stage is not much different than the home test the Myth Busters used. The second stage is a mass spectometry test, when someone indicates drugs on the first stage, and is much more accurate. I would guess that poppyseed rolls could kick a positive on the first stage of an FAA drug screening (dependant upon how many rolls were eaten), but do not know how it would react to the spectometry test that is the second stage of the FAA process.

My best advice is to not eat anything that might be questionable for a few days before your medical exam. Opiates dissipate from the system fairly quickly, and would then not be an issue.

You beat me to it. I took to long to respond

 

[Dale]

Not a contest, just trying to help people.

We both did good.

:hurray:

 

[zippynisles]

youz said all things good but forgot the most important one sight duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh:lol::lol::lol:

 

[meatasaurusx]

thanks for your help everyone. i wasn't planning on going on a poppy seed binge right before the pepc anyways, but i'll be sure to not eat any a few days in advance just in case!

 

[Cirrus12]

thanks for your help everyone. i wasn't planning on going on a poppy seed binge right before the pepc anyways, but i'll be sure to not eat any a few days in advance just in case!

Something like that actually came up in an HR class I took a couple years ago. Some company in Texas I think, some place southern, was bought out by another company. When the new company came in they made everyone take a drug test. Well there was a bakery, either in the same building or very near by, that everyone loved. Their big item was something that had poppy seeds in it. When they tested everyone about half the company failed and wound up getting fired.

 

[Muneco]

Thats f'd up, and this post was almost a year old LOL

 

[Cirrus12]

Thats f'd up, and this post was almost a year old LOL

I was bored and went reading through old posts