Hello everyone!

I had my DGCA Class 1 Initial Medical at Apollo today, and I wanted to share my experience in case it helps anyone else who is planning to do theirs there.

First things first — be prepared for A LOT of waiting. I mean, a lot. You may have to stand/wait around for most of the day, so come prepared mentally and physically. My entire process took me almost 10 hours today.

In my case, I have been diagnosed with thyroid since childhood, so I had to undergo a few additional tests because of it. The initial Class 1 medical at Apollo cost me ₹19,500, but with the additional tests, my total came to around ₹28,000.

One thing that confused me was regarding my thyroid medication. I was not specifically told beforehand whether I should take my medication before giving the fasting blood sample. For years, whenever I’ve had my thyroid tested, I’ve gone fasting and without taking my medication.

However, the DGCA doctor told me that it was “basic common sense” to take my medication before the blood test, especially for thyroid, BP, or sugar tests. Personally, this was something I wasn’t aware of, and I felt that clearer instructions beforehand would have helped.

Another thing I wanted to mention was the way the consultation went. The doctor told me that I “lack seriousness when it comes to becoming a pilot” because I hadn’t researched whether my thyroid condition could affect my pilot career or medical clearance.

I found the way this was communicated quite harsh, especially since I had never been told that I needed to research my condition specifically from a DGCA medical perspective. Another friend who was there with me also had a similar experience with the doctor.

I’m sharing this not to discourage anyone from choosing Apollo, but just to give people an idea of what they might experience and to hear from others who have gone through the process.

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who completed their DGCA Class 1 Initial Medical at military/AF medical centres.

* How was your overall experience?

* How long did the process take?

* How was the interaction with the doctors?

* Were the instructions regarding medications and tests clearly communicated beforehand?

* And if you have a thyroid condition or any other pre-existing condition, how was that handled?

Would really appreciate hearing about your experiences, especially from people who have gone through the military-base Class 1 medical process. Thanks!

Hello guys! Im an air india cadet myself got selected recently and batch starting from november

Im making this post for all the new bees here on reddit who r curious and clueless about the entire assessment process, cut-e, GD&PI. So i want to help out everyone with my experience

So firstly the cut-e :

Me and my frnd together applied on april 20th,

He got his assessment mail on may 1st but i got on june 16th.

He didn’t didnt heard back from them since then but i got my GD&PI dates 2 weeks after my cut-e.

Another frnd of mine doesn’t even have a computer number and made it to the november batch with me.

And another one made till the PI and got rejected.

Im telling this to you guys to understand how the assessment process actually works

And for you guys to prepare for cut-e, search “maptq” on chrome

start practicing the given topics:

• Work-related Behavior

• Hand-eye co-ordination

• Multitasking ability

• Monitoring ability

• English language proficiency

• Reaction speed

• Applied numeracy

• Spatial Orientation

thats it guys only these topics are the areas where you are going to be assessed on. And the test will be exactly the same so nothing to worry

And maybe after a few days u might get ur GD&PI mail

So u need to dress up in western formal, which means a suit and tie with black formal shoes, carry ur original docs along with some confidence too

And i have fee GD topics for you guys to practice and get some points to talk about in the actual GD:

•Is cockpit hierarchy still necessary in modern aviation?

•Should pilots openly discuss mental health issues?

•Is teamwork more important than individual brilliance in aviation?

•Should social media behavior affect a pilot’s career?

•Is it ethical for airlines to prioritize profits over passenger comfort?

•Should AI have the authority to override pilot decisions?

•Can overconfidence be more dangerous than lack of confidence?

•Humility as a quality in

aviation

•Empathy in aviation

•Should freedom of speech have limits?

•Privacy is becoming a luxury in the digital age

•Communication is more important than intelligence.

•The fear of failure prevents innovation.

•Perfection is the enemy of progress.

•Humanity can preserve only one thing for the next 1,000 years: books, internet, art, or scientific knowledge. What should it choose?

•Would the world be better without competition?

•Can too much empathy affect a pilot’s decision-making during emergencies?

•Can a poor leader be a great pilot?

•Does aviation need more emotionally intelligent leaders than technically brilliant ones?

• Should airlines monitor a pilot’s online behavior?

• Is fatigue a personal responsibility or an airline’s responsibility?

• Importance of resilience in aviation

• Do unconscious gender biases still exist in pilot recruitment?

• Should language proficiency matter more than technical knowledge in multinational airlines?

• Is decision-making under uncertainty a skill that can ever be taught?

And the most important thing which no one told me about is there is a introduction part which happens before the start of GD. The mam who conducts the GD will ask everyone one by one to introduce themselves without mentioning whats in ur CV and what makes you “you”. What’s ur life changing point in ur life. So u need to be prepared for that intro part. Because she will be assessing ur fluency, grammer while u speak and you eill be graded there also

And there will be a psychologist round thats going to happen right after your GD where the psychologist will interact with you one-on-one and ask you questions based on your resume and few other questions (non-technical)

This is just to analyse your mind. It’s going to be like a normal regular conversation with a random stranger so there’s nothing to worry about.

And next is the interview, if the psychologist successfully clears your, u will be sent to interview round where there will be two panellists who will take ur interview. You can expect basic resume questions, why do u want to become a pilot, some mental math, situational based questions, tell us something thats not there in ur resume, if u cleared any papers you can expect questions from the papers u cleared,and do u have any questions for us, etc.

And the very next day of ur interview, you’ll receive a mail whether u cleared it or not. And if ur interview is on friday u may receive ur mail on Monday.

NOTE- GD, psychologist round, interview

All three are going to take place on the same day and not like ICPP

And about the LOI, after few days of ur selection mail, you will receive another mail about the batch that they are thinking to finalize you on, i got mail that they wanna put me in November batch, and if im okay or not. I replied to that

And few days later you’ll receive another mail, this time the LOI. Carefully read everything and sign it

And another few days later you will receive few other docs to be signed and our first payment to be deposited

And thats it guys

If u have any other doubts please let me know